Is It Wrong To Want To Earn Money?

Jeremy Walker: 00:00 Is it wrong to want to earn money? This is Jeremy Walker and you’re listening to five minutes with a Christian education entrepreneur.

Jeremy Walker: 00:11 Well, I’d like to talk today about this question here, we get the question from time to time about the difference between a school and a business that makes a profit and those that accept donations instead. And from time to time you get the idea when people talk and ask this question that for some reason to want to make money is somehow dirty, is somehow non Christian or it’s not very enlightened of you, kind of a base thing to want to earn money. The answer to this question I think it’s interesting to go back to one of the basic concepts of the bible itself in the New Testament. In 1st Timothy 5:8 it says, but if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.

Jeremy Walker: 01:07 Well the sad part is, is that many Christians view poverty as a badge of honor, as if to be a Christian, to be a person of the faith, especially somebody involved in ministry outreach, missionary work. It means that you’re having to accept a life of poverty, some even chastity as the Catholics would do at some point, but that doesn’t mean that that is Christian just because it’s normally acceptable. In fact, all throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament we find that this is not the case.

Jeremy Walker: 01:43 See, money itself is not a problem, the bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil, not money itself. So what’s very important and people fail to understand is everything costs money, and so a person who wants to earn money to provide for their own, to have food, clothing, medical care, vehicles, everything in between. This is not a bad concept. This is not an evil concept, it’s not unchristian concept.

Jeremy Walker: 02:17 What is unchristian? What is separate from Christianity? Is this a version and rejection of the idea that money is important or that the making of money is important? Very often you’ll find people who seek donations as a norm. This type of thing is saying, I myself I’m not going to work and make a profit to support myself instead, I’m going to rely on other people who will work and who will make a profit so they can give their profit to me so I can be taken care of. There are many views on this, but from the viewpoint of a Christian education entrepreneur the concept is biblical is a person that works for themselves, that earns a profit, that takes care of their family and does not rely on other people to provide the basic necessities of life for themselves, for their loved ones and for their family.

Jeremy Walker: 03:17 That’s very important because this concept is completely rejected by most of Christianity. This subject should be discussed more, but from the point and perspective of a Christian entrepreneur, it’s very important to make your own money to support your family, and the way to do that is a very good idea to run your own business. You can have a job of course, it’s a very good way to make money, but even a better way is to earn money through the running of a business itself, and you can do that from a Christian school or any other form of Christian business as well.

Jeremy Walker: 03:55 I sat down with a man one time recently and I asked him about his son and I said, what is it you want for your son? Don’t you want your son to be able to provide for himself? Don’t you want your son to be able provide income and money for his family, for his children? You want your son to own his own home? It’s very obvious the man answered yes to all these things. And so from the Christian perspective, it is very godly to want to earn money and want to work for that. And so to answer the question, is it okay to want to earn money? The answer is yes.

Jeremy Walker: 04:34 The next question should be asked, how is it you’re supposed to make your money? And that is in the obedience to the commandments and the seeking and desire, not necessarily to be rich or to just have money, but the desire to take care of your family better and to make sure that all of your obligations are taken care of and maybe perhaps with your profit, with your tithes, be able to help other people as well.

Jeremy Walker: 04:57 Well, this has been five minutes with a Christian education entrepreneur. Thank you for joining us for these five minutes. You can find this episode and more on our website at gcsapprenticeship.com. Thank you and God bless.