How much is enough?

How much is enough?  Those who seriously try to follow Jesus must face this question.

Can a serious Christian sit with huge assets — perhaps worth millions — while others suffer or die for lack of food, or clean water, or the most basic medical care?  I don’t say this in order to launch you on a guilt trip, nor a self-justifying rant.  It is a serious question and it requires a serious response.

I don’t think the Bible gives us a simple formula that applies in all cases.  Many talk about the principle of the tithe (10% of income to God’s work), and it is a great starting point.  But is it an adequate standard for Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates or Warren Buffet?  Probably not.  But where does it break down?  A billion dollars?  Ten million dollars?  Enough to pay this month’s bills?  At the other end of the spectrum, what are we to say to a single parent trying to care for 2 or 3 children on a $10/hour job?  Again, the answer is not so simple as applying a formula.

Sunday’s epistle lesson comes from Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth (click here to read it).  There has been a famine in Israel, and the church in Jerusalem has been hard hit.  Paul is encouraging the Corinthians to give “out of their abundance” to the struggling community in Jerusalem.  But he doesn’t define “abundance.”  What one might consider an abundance, another might consider want.

We’ll talk about this on Sunday, but I’ll warn you that I will not offer a simple formula.  There are important principles that we can find in the lesson from second Corinthians, which are well supported elsewhere in the Scripture.  But even understanding them, we are each forced back to careful prayer and discernment.

What, for you, is an indicator that you have “enough?”  If you are there, what should you be doing differently?  If not, what is enough, and what is your call to generous living even now?

This column appeared in the June 27, 2021 edition of St. John’s eNews. Click here for the complete issue.

If you are reading this at a different time, you may click here for the current eNews.