3 Principles for Christians on Pursuing Wealth and Ambition
by Ben Nussbaum
Suppose you were to pick a spot on a map, walk into a church in that place, and sit down for the sermon. To hear a sermon answering the question, “How do I reckon with wealth and ambition as a Christian?” would be unlikely. And even if you were to enter into a church broaching this critical question, you’re even more unlikely to obtain a consistent answer across the spectrum of Christendom in the modern West. On any given Sunday in America, “how we reckon with wealth and ambition” varies as much as our contexts do: from city to country, megachurches to small parishes, and so on.
Questions of wealth and ambition are likewise varied across time and culture, as the example of church history shows. In fact, entire denominations have formed over the finer nuances of these very questions. Some Christians throughout the ages would posit that “Jesus teaches us to give our wealth away”, while other Christian traditions suggest that “God wants us to make as much money as we can for the sake of the Kingdom.” On any given Sunday, one pastor may say, “Christians should always abstain from positions of authority”, while another declares that the “pursuit of influence for the sake of the Gospel is always good.”
A number of different “absolutes” are prescribed, and so Christians are left at a difficult fork in the road: whose school of thought is right?
Because there are many schools of thought as it relates to the touchy topics of wealth and ambition, some sort of unifying mechanism that crosses socio-cultural boundaries is needed – some kind of mechanism that will help us “practice principles”, rather than “prescribe absolutes.”
“Practicing principles” helps us further understand our calling as the imago Dei – that is, the people of God, created in God’s image, embodying our discipleship in thought, word, and deed.
So, here are three “principles” that Christians can practice as we navigate tricky discussions about money and power.
Community over Individualism
In college, I once heard a lecture from a visiting Ethiopian professor of sociology. A classmate (inevitably) asked a question that was short-sighted enough for him to answer with this: he said, “You Americans are so funny. You do things like buy nice vacations and big houses for yourselves to enjoy, but you ask no one in your life if you should be doing that.”
We typically value individualism when it comes to our wealth. I want to accumulate more money, so I should. I want to pursue that promotion, and so I will. We rarely seek out others to help us assess if we should be pursuing wealth or ambition; such an idea would be preposterous to our peers. And if we do choose to seek people out, we usually only seek out people in a similar socioeconomic bucket, such that they will affirm our decisions. What the Ethiopian professor is suggesting would be dismissed in just about any professional setting. But should it be?
Or perhaps a more pointed question: What would it look like in practice? Years ago, an elder at my church led a bible study through the book of James. James has quite a bit to say about wealth and positions of influence. Chapter five references things like “luxury” and “self-indulgence” – often, the enjoyable byproducts of pursuing wealth. But James suggests that enjoyment of these things should be condemned rather than adored – and the elder leading the study somberly asked us, “How do I know if I’m being luxurious or self-indulgent?”
What he meant was, “I need help from other Christians in order to answer that question.” Individualism teaches us to be self-subjective when it comes to pursuing wealth. Our echo chamber becomes limited to the self; we give ourselves permission for all sorts of things. Prioritizing community teaches us to open ourselves up to being sanctified by the vantage points of other Christians, the very saints in your midst.
Contentment over Covetousness
The second principle is to value contentment over covetousness. Covetousness says, “I want what other people have.” In my life, just about any time I find myself wanting to accumulate more wealth or pursue some position of influence, it is almost always because I want what other people have, not because I am content with what I have.
In the New Testament, the apostle Paul directs Christians to “learn to be content” in any situation…which suggests that if we need to “learn” it, we probably aren’t proficient in it to begin with. We are probably more predisposed toward covetousness than we are contentment. Last summer, I had a week where I became aggravated with just about everything in our house. I found reasons to point out every little thing that was broken or not working properly. And then, I became frustrated with my job, and how much money I was making – leading to an existential crisis, not knowing if I was even doing what I was supposed to be doing with my life. Finally, my wife exclaimed, “What is wrong with you!”
I realized pretty quickly that being upset with my house, job, and life were not urges of the Holy Spirit. It was because two weeks earlier, I had interacted with someone who mentioned he made five times more money than I did. Covetousness began to drive new behavior within me. I wanted what he had, and it stripped me of any contentment I had. The joy and the contentment that I have in Christ completely melted when placed beside the salary of this guy at a happy hour. That’s what covetousness is.
And that’s usually where our hearts are at on a daily basis. But Christian teaching pushes back against this idea of covetousness quite directly. Paul encourages us to imitate Jesus – which is, to learn the art of contentment with what we already have, rather than pursuing at all costs the salary or the position of influence we don’t have, simply because someone else does.
Submission over Anxiety
The third principle we can practice to show what God values is embodying submission over anxiety. We can all locate ourselves inside of this challenging principle (quick poll: how many of you are anxious?). We are collectively anxious about money and work. 72% of Americans say they are anxious about their careers and 23% of those folks report that they take daily medication to cope. A Connecticut wealth manager once commented “It’s a really lucky person who can actually say, ‘I have enough. I am comfortable with what I have’…being wealthy has made many of my clients more anxious.”
The Biblical witness also anticipates anxiousness. Jesus gently commands, “Do not be anxious about tomorrow” while Paul later echoes this by telling the Philippians: “Do not be anxious about anything.” And yet, we often act as if accumulating wealth or attaining power are the exceptions to the rule.
The obvious antidote to anxiety that the way of Jesus offers up is submission. Anxiety is rampant in the workplace because many of us are desperately trying to seize control of something that we will never be able to find in wealth or ambition. Those things give us the allure of control, but little autonomy to show for it.
So what if instead, you submitted your wealth and your ambition? Submission is the path that many will never choose, which means they will never know the fruit of submission – things called “blessed assurance”, and “the peace that surpasses all understanding.” These are the legitimate benefits of what Christianity offers. This is what we have in a relationship with the living God through submission – peace, assurance, salvation.
A relentless pursuit of wealth and influence seems an enjoyable game to play until you realize that total control was never yours to seize. Yet right on the other side of your anxiousness is the God who invites you to “cast all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.” We think we want control – which is why we often pursue wealth and ambition; this leaves us anxious. The reality is we want to rest – which is why we must relentlessly submit to the way of Jesus; this leaves us with blessed assurance.
These blogs came out of our Winter 2023 6 Urgent Questions series of talks. You can listen to them on our podcast below