Friday, March 27, 2015

The Preacher's Million Dollar House

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: -II Corinthians 9:8


I recently came across an article about a well known mega church pastor in North Carolina. I say “well known,” but I had never heard of him until the article. The article was critical of the pastor’s decision to build for himself a 1.5 million dollar home. The pastor later defended his actions saying that the funds used for the house were not from church salary, but from money made from his books, which apparently are selling very well. I will not mention the pastor's name because unfortunately, this sort of situation is so common that I would have to go after a long list of pastors and preachers to cover them all. However, the pastor’s million plus dollar home does raise questions about financial responsibility in the church and for Jesus’ followers.

All of us have wondered what we might do if we suddenly had great wealth. Countless people seek this, which explains why multi-state lotteries are so popular. For many people, though, winning the lottery created more problems than they bargained for, because they were bankrupt within a few years, which is common among lottery winners. I admit I too have wondered what I would do if financial wealth was available to me. I have written and self published three books, and while this has been a tremendous blessing to me and the feedback from the books has been overwhelmingly positive, it has made little effect on my personal finances. But what if I wrote a book that became a best seller and I made millions from it? I can say with all certainty I would not build a 1.5 million dollar house. What I would do is pay off the home Andrea and I have, lay aside funds for retirement, perhaps place funds in a trust for our children and grand-kids, and then I would strive to be a good steward of what the Lord provided.

Now, back to that million dollar house; why would a preacher, someone called to be God’s humble servant, need a million dollar house? My answer is, he doesn't. In fact, why would any of Jesus’ followers need such an elaborate house? Wouldn't we be better stewards of what God has blessed us with to build something more modest and use what we would have spent on a larger house to help those in need? This looks like a better use for the wealth God has provided. Consider the dwelling you have right now. You may not have a mansion, yet when compared with a large portion of the world’s population, you are living in luxury akin to a palace. A key to peace in Jesus Christ is finding contentment in what we have rather than resentment over what we do not have.

So, should God’s servants live in luxury? Is it okay if the preacher has a million dollar house? I would welcome your thoughts. Or, perhaps there is something else on your mind today. Let me know how I can pray for you.

God bless you.


2 comments:

  1. Thanks for reading. I hope you were encouraged and strengthened today. God bless you.

    ReplyDelete