In his review of the best-selling personal finance book, The Psychology of Money, Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Zweig writes, “Money isn’t primarily a store of value. Money is a conduit of emotion and ego, carrying hopes and fears, dreams and heartbreak, confidence and surprise, envy and regret.”1 Mr. Zweig, writing for a business publication to a vast audience of all faiths, makes a biblical case that money is more than a tool used for trade or exchange. Behind money is both the imago Dei and all sorts of sins. Money is a means of all kinds of good and evil. If you find his observation to be on the mark and perhaps a bit surprising, ask yourself: how often is your church addressing these very heart issues around money?
Money shapes nearly every part of our lives, yet for most Christians, it remains a private and anxious subject. Many believers are left to make financial decisions without biblical guidance, while churches, from pulpit to programs, struggle to speak about it at all. If believers do seek advice, it may be from a personal finance book providing worldly wisdom, some of which has common grace-based principles, but falls short of a biblical perspective. Or they seek it from a radio personality thin on Scripture and thick on guilt. Or, perhaps, they meet with a financial advisor who is trained in planning and investments, but not theology. They help with the balance sheet, but not the heart.
Because Christians in America have little to no nourishing theology to feed on, they eat from the shelves of the convenience store of the world, much like our neighbors. Our lives don’t look that much different than theirs. Many Christians carry debt that clogs their cash flow, they live and spend to “keep up with the Joneses,” and, with the little that’s left, give a small percentage of their income to the local church and global missions.2
I share this based not only on statistics and general observation, but personal experience. I was in ministry for 10 years as a missionary and pastor, and have now been a financial planner for nearly 10 years. I’ve taken many courses on the Bible through my seminary education and many on money as a Certified Financial Planner. I’ve been in numerous church contexts where the topic of money is left to a few minutes every Sunday to pass the plate or giving announcements, budget updates at members meetings, year-end giving, personal budgeting programs, or bequests. And I’ve had hundreds of financial planning meetings with individuals and families, some of whom live out what I will propose below, though most harvest their fields all the way up to the edges and even beyond (see Lev. 19:9-10).
In short, Christians are getting most of their teaching about money from the world and their neighbors, rather than from their churches. Yet, writers and observers such as Randy Alcorn point out that the Bible devotes more verses to money—roughly 2,350 of them—than to nearly any other than any other topic, including faith, prayer, and hell.3 If Scripture communicates this frequently about money, and we know how many heart issues flow out of our relationship with money, can our churches consider doing more?
The church is in constant need of revival. I’m suggesting revival can come by way of teaching and modeling stewardship. After several years of reading and teaching—and having my own heart transformed by God’s Word on this topic—I believe the church must recover a more robust definition of stewardship and anchor it in a “theology of enough.” The result is a church whose people live modestly, save prudently, and give generously, serving as a collective witness of God’s Kingdom priorities for the world to take notice. Both topics require more than a short article, but I’d like to use the rest of this space to cover each of them briefly.
Recovering Stewardship
To move forward, the church must recover a biblical definition of stewardship. Merriam-Webster defines stewardship as “the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care.”4 Scripture tells us God created all things and we as his image-bearers are giving responsibility to care for his creation (Gen. 1). We are also told that, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” (Ps. 24:1) and “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine” (Ps. 50:12). God is the owner of all things and we are His stewards.
Stewardship, then, is significantly more than just money. Conceptually, it covers everything about us and our place in this world. We all should give thought to that implication alone. Yet, it is also not less than money. It is significantly more than getting out of debt and giving campaigns. God is Lord over our family budgets, our home and car purchases, our retirement plans, our bank accounts, our credit cards, our kids’ activities, our investments, our vacations, and our jewelry. As stewards, every financial decision carries the weight of managing and caring for God’s “stuff.” Therefore, stewardship is ultimately a discipleship issue.
The church must recognize that every person is making countless financial decisions throughout their lives, often in isolation and without the fundamental perspective that God is Lord over all their possessions and they are stewards of what he has entrusted to them. This cannot be outsourced to financial advisors or counselors alone. Too many lack the basic understanding of what the bible says about money and provide counsel more often based on the world’s wisdom than God’s Word. It is the local church’s responsibility to recover stewardship.
As a pastor, I rarely thought in this way regarding stewardship of my financial resources. “That’s for the business-minded staff,” or “that’s what an executive pastor is for,” were ideas formed early in ministry for me and others. The downsides are obvious. Pastors are often untrained in this central biblical issue: God’s Lordship over their “stuff,” which has significant implications for them and their flocks. Much more can be said. For now, I encourage every pastor or church leader reading this to reflect and pray for some time on how your church approaches the topic of stewardship, specifically regarding money and possessions. Next, I’d like to provide a kernel of theology to consider for further study and development.
Developing a Theology of Enough
Stewardship begins with recognizing God’s ownership. What flows from that is a critical question: How much is enough?”
In our culture, “enough” almost always means “a little more.” When asked, “How much is enough?” a business mogul once said, “Just one more dollar.”5 This becomes the unspoken standard. In personal finance circles, this is called “lifestyle creep.” Lifestyle creep is when income goes up, and people make lifestyle choices that cause expenses to go up. Those lifestyle expenses then require more income, and the vicious cycle can know no end. In other words, “just one more dollar.” Professing Christians are just as prone to this as non-Christians.
But God calls us to something radically opposite: A “theology of enough.”6 The principle can be found throughout Scripture. One clear example is Proverbs 30:8–9, “Give me neither poverty nor riches, but feed me with the food that is needful for me.” A theology of enough is a recognition that God alone owns it all and he alone provides (“Give me…”). It expresses the reality that there are those with not enough (“poverty”) and more than enough (“riches”). Both ends can lead one away from God by either breaking his commands (“stealing”) or forgetting him altogether (“Who is the Lord?”).
A theology of enough is receiving all that God provides without consuming it all. It is receiving the field God gives each of us without harvesting all the way up to the edge for ourselves. It is the consistent practice of self-limiting for the sake of blessing and being generous to others (see Lev. 19:9-10). Understandably, there are those in churches with “not enough.” The church must continue earnestly to care for the poor, the orphan, and the widow. Yet, as we recognize how little Christians give in a country as affluent as ours, the effort to work through this theology and its implications may be more on the other side with those who have “more than enough.”
Either way, a theology of enough must be worked out in the local church. Theologian Craig Blomberg writes that a theology of enough challenges “Christians to establish a voluntary consensus on both minimum levels of income and resources…and maximum levels of consumption and expenditures on self.”7 This voluntary consensus cannot be done in isolation by individuals or households. Tim and Kathy Keller write that we must not read Proverbs 30:8-9 as a “middle-class ideal” but that “our homes, clothing, and lifestyle should be modest within our circle and neighborhood so we can be as generous as possible.”8 Again, this theology must be worked out in community with fellow believers, led by pastors who have the courage to craft a deeper theology of enough that, over time, disciple their flock through the practice of stewardship of God’s “stuff.”
The Witness of Stewardship
In another reflection on Proverbs 30:8-9, Tim Keller writes, “The Christian community should model to the world a society in which wealth and possessions are seen as tools for serving others and not as a means of personal advancement and fulfillment.”9 How can the Christian community do this?
I’ve suggested that we recover stewardship and develop a theology of enough. Now, let me offer one practical framework that provides some structure for how we can be a model to the world. First, a question.
How do you prioritize your income? For every dollar you receive, what is the order of priority? If you haven’t given it much thought, you’re not alone. In my work as a financial planner, most people say things like, “giving is important,” and “saving is a priority,” but if they compete for the limited resource of your paycheck, which wins? I’ve found most people think in this order: spend first, save second, give what’s left. I’ve worked with pastors and church staff, and it is the same for them as it is for everyone else.
So here is a powerful and simple reframe: Rather than spend first, save second, give what’s left, flip the first and the last. Shift to give first, save second, live off the rest. Without going into how much we ought to give, it is clear in Scripture that our first priority as stewards of God’s “stuff” is to give. In his very nature, God created the world and gave us life. Out of his love for us, God gave His Son. The Father and the Son give us the Holy Spirit. Make giving your “firstfruits” not just theologically, but practically. Again, I’m advocating that this is done in community, in the local church, initiated by pastors and church leaders, worked out together in transparency and trust that by walking in the light, God would unite the body and unleash a form of generosity unseen in our generation.
We have spent abundantly because it is a first priority in many of our hearts. We need to ask if we look too much like the world. But if we flip it and seek to make giving our first priority, I believe we will also give abundantly to God’s Kingdom work in ways we see in Scripture and early church history that put the world and its gods on notice. As Tertullian wrote in the second century, while pagan temples used money for feasts, Christians used it to care for widows and orphans.10 Giving abundantly, saving prudently, and living modestly—this is where stewardship can be a witness to the gospel.
In all my years as a Christian and in the various roles I’ve held in ministry and the marketplace, it’s only within the last five years that I have begun to understand both the significance of stewardship in Scripture and the gap we experience in the church. My hope is that this article is only the beginning of trying to help fill that gap. Many resources already exist. My aim isn’t to add to them in order for there to be one more to collect dust. It is time for these resources, serious thinking, deep reflection, and meaningful prayer to make their way into our churches, starting with our leadership. Stewardship must be recovered, and a theology of enough must be worked out in our local churches. If we have the courage and humility to do so, I believe Our Lord and King, the owner of it all, will be pleased with his servants. To Him be the glory and honor as we seek to responsibly manage his “stuff” and be a witness to a world that’s watching.
1 Jason Zweig, “Do You Know the Difference Between Being Rich and Being Wealthy?” Wall Street Journal, August 7, 2020. Accessed November 15, 2025.
2 Christians are giving 2.5% of their income, according to one statistics site. See “Church Giving,” https://nonprofitssource.com/online-giving-statistics/church-giving/. Another set of research notes that the average donation to a church in America is $210. For this and other interesting statistics worthy of further investigation, see “Church Giving Statistics Report 2025,” https://www.nucleus.church/blog/church-giving-statistics. Both accessed December 21, 2025.
3 Randy Alcorn, Money Possessions and Eternity. Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, IL, 2003, pp. 3-4
4 Merriam-Webster, “Stewardship.” Accessed November 15, 2025.
5 The quote is often attributed to oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller.
6 I first came across this term in Craig Blomberg’s Neither Poverty nor Riches in the New Studies in Biblical Theology series. InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, 1999, p. 27.
7 Blomberg, Neither Poverty nor Riches, p. 27.
8 Tim and Kathy Keller, God’s Wisdom for Navigating Life, Viking, New York, NY, 2017, p. 310.
9 Ibid.
10 See David Bentley Hart’s excellent few pages on Christian charity in contrast to the world’s giving in Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2009, pp. 163-165.
