Here is the kind of question I sometimes enjoy pondering: How much money is God not really concerned about? I guess I’d better explain what I mean by that.
If someone told me a wealthy neighbor was handing out $100 bills to anyone who dropped by, no strings attached, I would immediately go over and knock on his door. In fact, I might even feel this is the right thing to do—if there’s free money to be had, it is good and wise to take advantage of it. But if someone told me that he was handing out $1 coins, I probably wouldn’t bother. Only one of those seems worth the effort. Similarly, if you misplaced a $100 bill, I’m sure you would search for it, but if it were a penny, you wouldn’t bother, and I don’t think anyone would judge you for that. We all have some cutoff point between an amount of money we care about and an amount we don’t. There’s nothing wrong or immoral about that.
Or here’s another question: How much money would you spend without giving it any serious consideration? I trust none of us would buy a new car on impulse or drop $50,000 without concerted thought and prayer. But what about a $1 app or a $2 coffee? How much thought should you put into that kind of purchase? The Wall Street Journal recently offered an answer by proposing the 0.01% rule, which says you should feel free to spend money “if the amount of money at stake is 0.01% or less of your net worth.” Thus, “someone with $500,000 in wealth could spend $50 worry-free, according to the rule.” There is, of course, no biblical basis to this, but I suppose it can be a helpful guideline because it does seem reasonable to believe that some expenditures are so minor they are almost without any moral or financial consequence.
As Christians, we know we are responsible before the Lord to faithfully steward our wealth, understanding that it all actually belongs to God—it is his wealth, not ours. We are not to relate to money as owners but as managers. A faithful manager is one who knows when to spend and when to save. He ensures each expenditure is both necessary and reasonable—not wasteful and not higher than it needs to be. But he also knows what kind of expenditure is worth laboring over and what kind is not. If he spends 20 hours in research to save $20 in costs, he is probably not very effective at his job. Sometimes it is not wrong to spend more rather than less, and sometimes saving money is actually wasteful. After all, money is not the only thing that is valuable—time is too, and energy, and effort, and much else. Exercising faithful stewardship does not necessarily require pinching every penny. In fact, faithful stewardship may require not pinching every penny.
What I have noticed in my own life is that I am prone to two opposite forms of poor thinking when it comes to relating to my money. The first kind expresses itself in spending money too freely, and the second kind expresses itself in clinging to money too tightly. The first treats my money like it is of no great consequence, while the second treats my money like it is of ultimate consequence. The first acts as if God has no limitations or instructions attached to what he gives, while the second acts as if God has such limited funds that I need to treat each penny with the utmost care lest I somehow drive him into bankruptcy.
This brings me back to my initial question: How much money is God not really concerned about? If I find out that I could save $2 a month by changing phone plans, should I? What if it’s $200 a month? Should I understand either or both of those to represent a kind of moral imperative? What if saving $2 or $200 requires a few hours of working my way through a call center? Is it still worthwhile?
My conclusion is that it is good and right to treat money seriously. It is good to expend significant effort in stewarding it faithfully. Yet part of faithful stewardship is knowing that some expenditures are so minor that they really don’t matter—that caring too deeply about them may actually reflect greater spiritual problems than just rolling with them. Idolatry and poor thinking can always reveal themselves on both ends of a given spectrum. The miser is no less a sinner than the spendthrift!
The miser is no less a sinner than the spendthrift!
In the end, I think Paul helps us the most when he lays down principles for giving, but then lands here: “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). God loves a cheerful giver and, I’m convinced, a cheerful spender and saver too. Earning, giving, spending, saving—all of these are to be done with joy, freedom, and confidence, trusting that God delights to give us the wisdom and character we need to prove faithful stewards of his gifts.
