“IT’S MY MONEY!” — Is it?
Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s & to God what is God’s.
I have said it and heard it from many people; “It’s my money!”, “I don’t like paying taxes, the government is taking my money!”, “The thief stole my money!”, etc.
Is it really “my money” though? Jesus had something interesting to say about money:
Matthew 22:17–21 ESV — Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
David Guzik — Commentary Matthew 22 — Blue Letter Bible
“Render generally means ‘give back’ (whereas the verb they had used in verse 17 was simple ‘give’). It is the verb for paying a bill or settling a debt; they owe it to him.” (France)
“It establishes the limits, regulates the rights, and distinguishes the jurisdiction of the two empires of heaven and earth. The image of princes stamped on their coin denotes that temporal things belong all to their government. The image of God stamped on the soul denotes that all its faculties and powers belong to the Most High and should be employed in his service.” (Clarke)
Whose image, and inscription, is on our money? Whosever image is on something identifies ownership. If we are image bearers of God, He has identified His ownership of us.
Jesus is not saying we shouldn’t care about money; it seems he is pointing out there are more valuable things to focus on. In most cases today, money is issued by a central government and paid back to that central government. IT’S NOT OURS!
I think what we mean when we say “it’s my money” is the value represented by the money is mine. I traded my time, energy, goods, and services in exchange for that money. I will use the money in an exchange to purchase goods and services that someone else has produced. Money is an exchange tool. Nothing more.
Deuteronomy 14:22–26 — “You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. And before the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the Lord your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the Lord your God chooses, to set his name there, then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the Lord your God chooses and spend the money for whatever you desire — oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household.
Real value is in the good or service produced by people. Money is a tool to transfer that value between various people. Jesus seems to be emphasizing that we put too much focus on the money and not enough on the value behind it.
Real value is valuable no matter what the money is.
Some people may be worth millions or billions of dollars, but the money is not sitting in a bank account somewhere. The goods and services they own and provide to others has value and it is, somewhat, measured by the denominations of money. They use money to buy other valuable things that increase in value and provide more goods and services, therefore, attracting more money to produce more.
It seems Jesus may be saying, Caesar can have his money back if he wants, but God prefers the actual value behind it. He teaches us where we should store real value:
Luke 12:33–34 — Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Exchange temporary, unsecure wealth for permanent, secure wealth by using the temporary wealth to do good and serve others. The value we create is very valuable to us and God; wherever we apply it will pull our heart strings and direct our lives. We should apply our value to where we (individually) believe it will make the biggest impact for ourselves and others. By doing so, we will be storing our wealth in people, then we can receive more to impact more people. Jesus digs deeper in another lesson:
Luke 16:9–13 — I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
When temporary, unsecure wealth is used to do good and serve others, we are building relationships for ourselves and for God. This is real value that is stored in people, FOREVER. People are what’s valuable to God, not the material possessions that He blesses us with. He wants us to use His blessings to share with others. This does not mean that Jesus wants us to give everything away (he could ask some to do this). It does mean we should maximize our abilities and resources to provide goods and services to more and more people, building relationships that glorify God. This is the essence of free market capitalism centered on Christ.
1. I use my Time, Talents, & Treasures, to:
2. Produce Goods & Services for others, in exchange for:
3. Money, to:
4. Purchase Goods & Services from others, to:
5. Satisfy my Needs, Wants, & Wishes, &:
6. Share to satisfy others Needs, Wants, & Wishes.
The more I produce for others, the more I receive for the needs of me and my family; but also, the more I receive to be a blessing to more people. Money is only part of the picture not the whole picture. The most important part of the picture is the value being created by people to share with others. Money is only the tool to transfer value from one party to another.
How do people store real value rather than just storing money?
Where can value be stored where it will be safe, secure, and available to access money anytime we want?
What solution would allow us to freely use our resources any time while continue growing our wealth, including pay taxes to “Caesar”?
How can we harness the value of life no matter what the denomination of money is?
This next paragraph has been repeated in some of my other blog posts because the questions keep pointing back to the same answer.
A simple solution was created hundreds of years ago by like-minded people coming together in agreement to pool their resources for mutually beneficial needs. Its capabilities were fully discovered, implemented, and taught for many decades by R. Nelson Nash. He eventually wrote a book titled Becoming your Own Banker: Unlocking the Infinite Banking Concept. This 92-page book may be the most valuable book about personal finance other than the Bible. His second book is a great addition, titled Building your Wearhouse of Wealth. Mr. Nash’s work is true to God’s design for us to be good stewards of God’s blessings to build wealth and invest in His people.
I encourage you to seek and discover for yourself the power of the Infinite Banking Concept.
It is always best to go to the source rather than secondhand knowledge.
