Once, I was in a meeting and we were chatting about wealth, and I idly asked ‘what would you do if you had a million pounds?’ The lady sitting next to me was offended: ‘What makes you think I don’t?’ she said. Well, when you’ve dug yourself into a hole, best stop digging.
I’m not sure I would have asked the inverse question quite so lightly: ‘what would you do if you only had a hundred pounds to last you to the end of the month?’ And yet I suspect that is the reality for more people than for the first question.
‘Keep yourselves from the love of money,’ says Hebrews 13:5 – ‘be content with your pay,’ says John the Baptist (Luke 3:14).
It seems counter-intuitive, but generosity is often found more among those who have little than among those who have much.
Although the most generous person I know is also the most wealthy: God himself. ‘He has given us everything we need [to] participate in the divine nature’ 2 Pet 1:3f. His gift, so I can participate. So maybe I could ask ‘What would you do if could participate in the divine nature?’ and you could be offended: ‘What makes you think I don’t?’
Raymond