Is Pursuing Financial Freedom a Sin? (this is what the Bible says)

0:00 As a young man who's business-minded, I've always had this idea and this dream to achieve financial freedom. Ever since a young age, I mean, I would come home from school, my early teenage years, and start watching these YouTube videos for hours and hours on how to build wealth and real estate investing and how to invest in the stock market, how to make money online, and all these different things as a teenager. And I got obsessed with this idea of financial freedom. I didn't really grow up with money and things like that and I saw how hard it was on my parents and the sacrifices that they had to make in order to give me a good life and you know one thing led to another and it led me to this idea that I want to become financially free. So I've been researching this for years and then finally whenever I got to

0:46 a point in my life where I decided to give my life to Christ, I started asking the questions, what does God's word actually say about this? Does God want us to be wealthy? Does God want us to pursue financial freedom? Does the Bible even talk about this? So, very recently, I've been diving into the Bible and trying to find out what it actually says about money and wealth and possessions and how we should go about it as a Christian, living life how God wants us to live. Growing up, I'd kind of hear bad things about money. Um, especially whenever it came to being a Christian, it kind of just felt like money wasn't a topic to talk about. Um, it kind of was like not something that everybody was comfortable talking about. And a popular verse I kept hearing is money is the root of all evil. Money is the root of all evil. Until I finally read that

1:32 verse for myself and I came to find that it actually says the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. And so that was my first discovery that like just because it's something that you hear often doesn't make it true. You have to go and read the Bible for yourself because what if what you've been taught all your life or the things that you've heard isn't even true with scripture. So that's something I would hear and as I continued to read the Bible, I would come across things like Matthew 6:24. It says, "You cannot serve two masters. You cannot love both God and money." So after reading verses like these, I thought to myself, okay, I had to choose one. It's either going to be God or it's going to be money. For some reason, I thought it was a sin to build wealth as a Christian. And I came to the conclusion that if I wanted to serve

2:19 God, I couldn't even think about building wealth. And if I wanted to build wealth, I couldn't even think about being a Christian and serving God. That's the mindset that I pretty much came to conclusion to until I decided to fully go in detail, read the Bible of what it actually says about money. Not just with the words on the page, but what about the themes throughout the stories of the Bible? Do we see certain themes of characteristics that God uh works through certain people? Or what does Jesus actually say himself in red letters? And then what does it say in other books of the Bible like Proverbs? And what I came to find I think might shock you or it might surprise you. I would read verses like Proverbs 13:22 that says, "A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children."

3:05 Or Proverbs 10:4, "Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth." Proverbs 21:20, "The wise store up choice food and oil, but fools gulp down all they have." Deuteronomy 8:18, the idea that God is the one who gives us the ability to produce the wealth in the first place. Or 2 Corinthians 9:11, you will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion and through your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. And all of these verses started to point to the fact that having financial freedom and having wealth is a good thing. something that happens to the wise and something that God can get the glory out of and you can bless others on every occasion. And so on one hand it's starting to seem like this good thing that we should do. And then I kept on

3:52 reading my Bible and then I would start to see the opposite side, the warnings of wealth. And I would read things like 1 Timothy 6:10, for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. Or again, Matthew 6:24, "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." Luke 12:15. Then he said to them, "Watch out. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not consist in abundance of possessions." Proverbs 11:28, "Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf." Ecclesiastes 5:10, "Whoever loves money never has enough. Whoever loves

4:39 wealth is never satisfied with their income. So I got to this point I'm like, okay, I feel like there's just as many verses on money being a good thing, but then the love of money being something that could completely rip your life apart, a bad thing. And I pretty much came to the conclusion that the difference in these two different verses or two different types of verses is that on one hand, money and wealth when used in the right way could bring glory to God. It could leave an inheritance for your children's children. You could be generous to other people. You can provide for your family. You can do all these things. And then on the other hand, it's like the love of money, putting your security in wealth and the warnings that Jesus says for a lot of these things of making money your god.

5:25 So, it simply comes down to your heart. Money can be a tool used for great things on one hand, and on the other hand, it can be something that completely destroys your life and tears you away from God. And so, here's something that pretty much changed everything for me. I had to realize that if you were a Christian, you have to operate out of being a manager of everything that you have on this earth. Nothing is truly yours. When you die, it's just going to get passed on to the next guy. everything down to the house that you live in, to the land that you own or to the shirt on your back. It's either going to get thrown away or recycled or given to somebody else or sold or whatever. So, no possession that

6:11 you have is truly yours anyways. You're just managing it for God while you live on this earth. And we see this in Psalms 24:1. The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it. for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. So anything that we ever have on this life not only is for God but it's been given to us to manage it for God as well. And whenever you really really start operating as a manager instead of an owner, your view on money becomes completely different because the question that you're asking yourself is no longer how can I become wealthy. It starts to be am I managing God's resources responsibly or the way that he

6:59 wants me to be doing it. So financial freedom shouldn't come from a place of how can I store up for myself as much as I can on this earth to give my security to live it up or like any of these reasons. It becomes almost your duty as a Christian to manage the opportunities in your life to have responsibility whenever it comes to your finances and having obedience to God's word on what it actually says to do with your money. And I'm going to be completely honest, I got to a point in my life very recently where I understood all these verses. I understood all these concepts in the Bible and I could recite the scripture. I can tell you that the love of money is the root of all evil. I can tell you that you can't serve two masters. I can tell you that Jesus warns us about storing up for ourselves treasures on earth and instead we should store up treasures on heaven. And yet somehow I

7:45 was still struggling on how to operate on a day-to-day basis because every single time that I would start to operate in a responsible way with my work, with my finances, with building wealth, with pursuing financial freedom, I would get this this thought that would creep into my mind of like, are you sure you're doing it for God? Are you sure you're not just doing it for your own selfish gain? Are you sure you're not trying to just see a certain number of money with your net worth or your bank account or anything? And I would constantly be on a back and forth battle. And it drove me into this severe level of laziness and I just fell off altogether with my purpose in life. And it was terrible. I'm not even going to lie. Like it got to a point where where

8:30 I was so far off of what the Bible even said that I realized I just woke up one day and I was like, "Dang, I really let the devil play me like a puppet and knock me off of what God truly has for me cuz he twisted the scriptures and he put those lies in my head and I believe them." And James 1:22 puts into perspective on kind of like the life that I was living. And I feel like this is exactly the type of person that I was. James 1:22 says, "Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves, but do what it says." Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the

9:17 perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it, not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it, they will be blessed in what they do. So, not just reading the word, not just being able to quote scripture, but whoever intently looks into God's word and continues in it, they will be blessed in what they do. So, how do we do that on a daily basis? I think Romans 12:2 gives us a perfect example of that. It says, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good and pleasing and perfect will." So do not conform to the pattern of this world. So do not conform to your natural way of thinking of falling into those traps, your fleshly way of

10:02 thinking and operating, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Meditating on scripture, reminding yourself daily what God's word says. Not just to be able to quote the scripture, but so that you can actually live it out. Like James 1:22 says, don't just read the word, but be doers of the word. constantly reminding myself why I am operating the way that I do or what I'm doing on a daily basis. Like why am I actually going to put in the work? Like what are the actual motives behind it? Not just okay, I'm going to work because I need money to survive or I'm going to work because I guess I want to build some sort of wealth because I don't want to be poor. It's it's so much deeper than that for a Christian. It it goes from the surface level of, you know, cause and effect like I'm going to work so I can get money. It goes from that to

10:49 I'm going to work hard in everything that I do because it's obedience to God's word. It's not about puffing ourselves up. It's not about our ego. It's not about what can we accomplish. It comes down to obedience. Colossians 3:23, "And whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord and not for human masters." So, we know that we have to work hard. 1 Corinthians 4:2, "Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful." So we must be faithful in everything that we do. Proverbs 22:29. Do you see someone skillful in their work? They will serve before kings. They will not serve before officials of low rank. So not only work hard, not only be faithful, but be skilled in what you do. Ephesians 6:7 through8. Serve wholeheartedly as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know

11:36 that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. In everything that we do, we should be doing it wholeheartedly. Serving in our marriage, in our finances, for our studying, for our test, literally everything. Not just building wealth, not just, you know, one thing or another. Whenever it comes down to these principles as Christians, we need to realize that it transcends our entire life. Obedience to Christ is not just on Sundays. It's every single day of our life in every area. So, I'm to this point now where I'm fully convinced that God does not call man to be average in anything, but to be excellent in everything. Not for our own glory, but for God's glory. And that by doing that, it's honoring and pleasing to God because we're obeying him. Jesus said,

12:22 "If you love me, you'll keep my commands." In Matthew 5:14, it says, "You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way right here, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven. So to me, whenever I'm reading these things, if we do this with the right motives to glorify God, whenever we succeed in our finances, that alone, other people can look at us, see our good deeds, and glorify God in heaven. So in every area of your life to succeed in finances is obedience to God. To succeed in your marriage and your relationships is obedience to God. To take care of your

13:07 body and prioritize your fitness and be healthy is obedience to God. Why? Because it's all about being managers and stewards of what he places in our life. God gave me this body. So I'm going to treat it wholly and with respect and I'm going to put healthy things into it. and I'm going to go out for runs and I'm going to be strong and lift weights. And all of that is not just for your own glory. Whenever you're doing it with the right motives, it can be for God's glory. And I think that's the way that he intended it. In the same way, he gave me this wife, so I'm going to honor her and I'm going to honor God and I'm going to treat her respectfully and we're going to have this healthy marriage because I am being responsible with the things that God gives me on this earth as a manager, not like an owner of, oh, that's my wife. She's with

13:54 me now. now I don't have to try or why can't I just lay on the couch all day play video games and eat potato chips. This is what gives you the purpose in everything that you do is because you're starting to live life through this not just what you feel like doing but out of obedience to God's word. And it has to be intentional. You can't just get to the end of a goal that you have like let's say I don't know you want to make a million dollars and you get to this point and where you have you built this entire successful business and then at the end you're like oh yeah uh glory to God but the entire time you were just not even thinking about it or that wasn't actually the reasons of why you were building the business that you built or whatever the case may be. It's not about just giving God the glory at the end. It's about every single day

14:41 living your life with him in obedience to his word. And that's the reasons of why you're doing it. And I'm not going to be able to tell you and you're not gonna be able to tell in my life. I could have the wrong motives way in the back of my mind and nobody will see on the surface, but only God can see it because God knows your heart. It's between you and him ultimately. And it has to come from a heart that wants to please God, that wants to love him, and that wants to obey his word. And so to help me not fall back into the old ways of operating and then like forgetting about God and being like, "Oh yeah, God, I want to be doing life your way." And so something that's helped me on a day-to-day basis is I made this little thing that I typed out for me to read every morning. And it's pretty much like my life mission statement of why I'm going to work every single day backed by

15:28 scripture. And pretty much the idea is for me to read it every single morning before I start my day to really set the foundation of how I operate on a day-to-day basis. It says, "Why will you continue to work hard even on the hardest days?" The first thing is to provide for my family every single month. 1 Timothy 5'8, "Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. To achieve financial freedom and to create generational wealth." Proverbs 13:22, "A good man leaves an inheritance to their children's children, but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous." To give and bless others radically and at scale, not just 20 bucks here and there, but I'm talking like these radical ways of giving. Like, I want to get to a point

16:14 in my life where I can see like a single mom or something with kids and she's struggling and go bless her with a car. I want to buy a house for somebody one day. And it's funny because like whenever you start operating as a Christian, things like that start to light that fire under you so much more than just for like your own personal gain. Like, oh, I want to buy a sports car one day or I want to achieve a million dollars net worth or I want to make six figures in a month or something like that. And I'm not trying to like judge you if those are your goals. Like you could still have those goals, but Jesus said is more blessed to give than to receive. like what Acts 20:35 says, it's more blessed to give than to receive. And I can tell in my own life personally, even on the smaller scale that I've done it so far, it's like

17:00 knowing that you're helping somebody else, that you're spreading the word of God to them through your generosity, that is like so much more fulfilling and worth it and a reason for me to get up every morning and go and put in the hours and get to work and be ambitious than cuz I want to buy a certain car one day. The next thing is honoring God by doing good work in everything that I do. Whenever God created the world, every single time he would do something, he said like God created the light and he saw that it was good. He created the land and the waters and he saw that it was good. Plants, he saw it was good. Animals saw that it was good. And so whenever we were created in the image of God, it makes me think, okay, everything that God created is good. Then whenever

17:47 we go out and everything that we create or everything that we do should be good as well. So we should be efficient in our work. We should we're literally called to excellence in everything that we do as humans who are created in the image of God. And 1 Corinthians 10:31 kind of just like helps me dial that in. It says, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." And so it's like this idea that we're operating out of, you know, obeying God's word and that's why we're doing everything to bring him glory, to bring him honor. And so in everything that you do, God can give the glory. And it's not about perfectionism. It's not about holding ourselves to like a too high of a standard or like it's literally like obedience to God because he gets the glory as we are pursuing

18:32 excellence. And then finally, be the example to my son. That one's self-explanatory. So at the end of the day comes down to literally one thing. Your motives. Is pursuing financial freedom wrong? Is it unbiblical? Is it a sin? It depends on your motives. Are you doing it just to get the outcome of, you know, I want to buy a sports car one day? Are you doing it and then like forgetting about God in the process and then saying, oh yeah, let me go read my Bible or check off a box. Are you pursuing financial freedom because it's actually your idol in your life? because that's where you get your security from. Out of the fear of not having the money. Is that where it's coming from? Is that the reasons of why you're doing it? Or are you pursuing financial freedom out of obedience to God's word? Because God

19:19 calls us to excellence in everything that we do because we are managers and stewards of the opportunities that he set in front of us. So with that, that's the end of the video. If this is the first time you've seen a video from me, consider subscribing. This is kind of the content that I like to make because I mean, I kind of shared that in this video. God put it on my heart from a young age. You know, I had these passions of building wealth and achieving financial freedom and um now I'm tying in like what does the Bible say about this? Not just tying it in, but building the foundation of God's word and that's the reason of why I'm going to go out and do all these things. So, if you have the interest of building wealth and living a life for God, then this is the perfect channel for you. Consider subscribing. And one last thing, if you're a young man, I do have a Discord channel um for young Christian men who are trying to live life God's

20:06 way, using this as our firm foundation for not only just finances, but every walk of our life. And right now, I'm actually hosting a Monday morning devotion, kind of get together, and there's a small group of us where we start our week off right for God and the right mindset. And we do Bible studies throughout the week and different things like that. So, feel free to join. The link to that will be in the description. And finally, leave a comment. Let me know what you thought about this video or any thought whatsoever, questions or something that you didn't agree with or anything. I'd love to hear from y'all. So, God bless and hope to see you in the next