I think I caught the meaning of something I have heard before, but never quite understood. As it is beginning to sink in, I think it may be revolutionary . . . because it provides clarity for some fundamental financial decision-making.

Specifically, here’s the phrase:

It all belongs to God. Now, how much does He want me to keep for myself?

Think of it! Most people’s “natural” way of thinking starts from the premise that “It’s all mine. Now. How much do I want (or: “How much do I feel God is compelling me”–or some such) . . . –How much do I want to give away?”

The new phrase acknowledges the truth:

• It–whatever we are talking about, the world, our lives, everything–belongs to God. It’s already His.
• God has made us stewards of what He places in our hands.

But when you’re a steward (a caretaker, a fiduciary, a trustee of someone else’s property)–the proper question is not, “What do I want to do with this property?” Rather, the proper question is this: “What does the grantor–the donor, the owner, the one who entrusted into my care–want me to do with it?”

And, when it comes to remuneration for services rendered: “What has the grantor allowed me to keep for myself?”

The equation of “giving” is suddenly turned around. It is not so much my decision concerning how much I am willing to give away; it is, rather, all about how much He–the donor (or, in this case, God)–is willing for me to keep.

Very different feeling.

I think this alternate question is especially important for wealthy people (though, in truth, virtually all of us today are wealthy . . . compared to people who lived a hundred or a thousand or two thousand years ago).

It’s an important shift in thinking for us because otherwise we think, “Well, last year I made $x; now this year I’ll be making $x + $y. That means I can buy or do ___ and ____ and ____.” And we focus on ourselves and what we get to do with the money.

But the real question should be, “What does God want to do with the money?”

And then, as a natural by-product, we will have to answer the more personal question: “What does God want me to do with the money (as a steward/trustee/fiduciary)?”

And then, as a secondary part of that broad question, we will also ask: “What portion of this bequest does He want me to use as remuneration?”

Something like that.

It suddenly makes the kinds of decisions Sarita and I have been making with the money entrusted to our care seem a lot more reasonable. Suddenly, it doesn’t seem so weird that we want to break through the 50% of AGI Barrier.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 at 10:30 pm and is filed under charity, giving. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.