I have a piece at The Gospel Coalition about the fragmented life and the biblical call to wholeness. This post is occasioned by an effort with the Institute of Faith, Work, and Economics to look into the greatest commandment and what it means for personal wealth. For those interested, there is a link to a free ebook at the bottom of the piece (or here).
The Bible says a good bit about the issued of wealth and property, and how we’re to understand the things we accumulate in this life. Most Christian studies on wealth tend to see it as something to manage, not something tied to a believer’s core. They usually focus simply on biblical passages that explicitly mention money. Though such prooftexts are helpful, they often miss larger themes threaded through Scripture that speak to how we ought to use the gifts God has given us.
For instance, any discussion of the Christian view of wealth ultimately revolves around the subject of stewardship. Stewardship gives us an invaluable category for pondering how we use property, particularly in how we understand ownership in light of the Creator/creature distinction. In light of a personal Creator, to what extent can we say we truly “own” anything?
These important questions tell us a lot about wealth. But they don’t tell us as much about ourselves.
Read the rest here.