This evening our ‘Life’s great big questions – with the friends’ group (LGBQ-WTF for short) re-convenes and the subject is simply around the question of ‘how much is enough?‘ For a bunch of people in their 50’s & 60’s it’s a very pertinent question as the ‘earning years’ are possibly coming to an end and we are then dependent on whatever superannuation we have stashed away, as well as whatever government pension we may be fortunate enough to receive. I know it’s a lurking issue in my own consciousness and while I want to ‘trust God to provide’ I’m also conscious that my own initiative is required in some way as well. This is not an issue where I can be passive. So this blog is essentially a fairly unrefined brain dump to help me get in the zone for conversation tonight.

It arose as F & I chatted one day about how much we’d like to see in the bank as a fund to draw on in ‘retirement’. If you have read my blog for any time you would know that I feel ‘retirement’ is a social construct – not a ‘law’, or an ‘essential’ of any kind – certainly not a biblical concept – so I may never ‘retire’. However as we discussed the idea the magic ‘million’ dollars was the first bid to land on the table. A simple 5-7% interest would give $50-70K alone. That’s enough to live on if you are frugal… That said, I would like to be able to travel and eat out with some freedom so that would mean either chewing into the capital or earning more $$.

So maybe 2 million?…

It’d be nice to have a holiday house or 2… a yacht… I think we got to pondering $13 or $14 million as the conversation wove on and we laid out our crazy visions. Those figures will certainly never be a reality for me, but they may be on the table for others.

We are in an interesting phase of life. Having sold a business that was very profitable and allowed us to live well and resigned from our stable income church roles, we are now in a place where we are reliant on our other caravan business as well as any ad hoc church work I get or admin work Danelle picks up. It’s a massive drop in income, but we still seem to have ‘enough…’

Of course there is the question of ‘who gets to define what we mean by enough?’ My ‘enough’, may feel ludicrous to someone on a high income, but equally silly to someone living on the pension. Last week we were in Busselton and I cycled into Dunsborough past a whole heap of lavish beachfront homes that are probably someone’s ‘holiday shack’. I’d like one of them. It would be nice to know that at any moment you could down tools and a luxury beachfront home in the south west would await you. I had a few moments of envy as I passed those homes… Western consumer culture keeps trying to disciple me into its ways. Some days I resist, while other days I find it’s tentacles have wrapped around me more than I had hoped.

‘Enough’ may also vary at different stages of life. For my parents in a nursing home their need for cash is greatly diminished. For a young family with mortgage, kids and toys it is increased – of course we do get to choose our mortgage and how we spend our money, so I don’t have much sympathy when someone tells they have stretched to the limits of their income and now have mortgage stress. Simple solution – buy only what you can afford.

When I run the question of ‘enough’ thru a biblical lens, there is no part of scripture that calls me to pursue wealth as a priority. Paul speaks of ‘learning how to be content whether he has plenty or little’ (Phil 4:11) and to me that is one of the keys. ‘Contentment’ is notoriously elusive because we have been led to believe it lies just over the next hill in the next purchase or acquisition. I imagine Paul had periods of high income as well as periods where he lived frugally.

Of course you can’t consider this question without thinking of the story Jesus told in Luke 12 of the man who stored up excess grain in his barns and then thought ‘I will take it easy because I can…’ and that night his life ended. Jesus clear warning is to not invest our time building earthly wealth but to seek ‘treasure in heaven’. What does he mean by that?… Whatever it is, we can know confidently that Jesus is not endorsing wealth accumulation and being ‘financially self sufficient’ as a goal to pursue.

My own contribution to the evening’s pre-reading was from the sermon on the mount where Jesus calls us not to worry.

¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust^[e] destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matt 6:19-21

This is probably the clearest teaching from Jesus on how we are to approach wealth and life in general. We are called to hold it lightly and not make it the focus of our affections. That doesn’t mean we can’t be wealthy. In fact we in the western world we can’t avoid being wealthy just by virtue of where we live. A family with two parents both on minimum wage are still in the top 10% of wealthy people in the world. We have just been so conditioned to desire ‘more’ that we never feel that our wealth is sufficient. We have been trained to ‘compare up’ and never ‘compare down’. When we do that we feel like we are lacking – but it’s simply a marketing ploy.

Jesus went on to say:

²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, ²³ but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Matt 6:22-23

He refers to our eyes – our sense of focus. A healthy focus means a body will be full of light – a focus on the things that matter to God allows us to live freely and easily as we trust him to care for us. But eyes focused on acquisition and accumulation of wealth are rarely going to be satisfied and Jesus refers to this as a ‘great darkness’. Simply put, when our lives are focused on money and driven by money we will lose focus on the God who provides whatever we need.

He finishes with:

³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Matt 6

It seems Jesus simple advice is to be in relationship with God and to let our focus in life come from that connection, rather than being buffeted by the culture. It’s easy to say – harder to implement.

Along the way we will most likely accrue wealth – because we live in a world where that is possible. Our homes will increase in value, we will save some money and our superannuation should have a few dollars in it. I’m conscious that even in this wealthy society there are some who live on the edge – just enough for rent or mortgage – scraping by on bills and food and little left over for pleasures and toys. Here’s the thing though – that feels tough, and one level it is, but on another level, when compared to the vast majority of the world we would appear to have it very good. It all depends on where our comparison lies.

So how much is enough – probably less than we think. I like Yoel Frank’s book, The Barefoot Disciple, that is full of common sense financial advice that you would find in its namesake book The Barefoot Investor, but it also has the edge of pushing you to consider what it would look like to seek first the priorities of Jesus and then trust him to put $$ in the bank.

As I sit here today I am conscious that I am ludicrously, even obscenely wealthy by world standards and yet my culture keeps whispering to me that I am actually discontent… I don’t sense there is any figure that will ever suffice when we are seeking to prop ourselves up with our own muscle, but the other option of trusting a good God to provide is equally challenging as it is less about our effort and more about following the path he sets us on. It may lead to un sought after affluence or it may lead to downward mobility – both are possible. Yet in both the mental state of ‘learning to be content’ and ‘of seeking first the kingdom of God’ are the keys to keeping grounded.

Brain-dump complete.