The Production of Wealth

President Obama to Wall Street this week: “I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money.”

I always want to approach the topic of wealth from as Biblical a viewpoint as possible. First, I recall a couple of verses in Deuteronomy 8, where we are told, “You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth.”

From this passage, I extract two concepts: first, no one should be haughty about their wealth—pride is condemned; second, God is the one who set it up so that we are able to produce wealth. There’s no indication that He hates the wealthy—rather, He makes it possible for people to create wealth.

We’re always admonished to use our wealth for God’s purposes, but there is really no limit placed on individuals with respect to how much they can earn. If they keep their hearts right before God, they will use their wealth to help others and grow His kingdom on earth.

It’s rather arbitrary, isn’t it, for Obama to declare that there is a limit to what a person should earn? Who, by the way, is going to determine what that limit might be? Why, the government of course.

Where is that found in the Constitution?

The president earned more than $5 million last year. Did he earn too much? That’s certainly more than I’ll see over quite a number of years. Maybe I should protest the “unfairness” of it all.

Let’s be serious. Obama is not opposed to wealth per se; he just wants to control it and direct it to his friends.

He will criticize others while doing the same himself. I think that’s called hypocrisy.

Then he directs businesses to get the economy moving again, but makes it difficult for them.

Congress is going to need more money to cover all the costs of its programs, so the wealth of the nation needs to be redirected—otherwise known as redistributed—to meet the needs of a voracious central government.

The hypocrisy runs rampant. Then they try to tell us that things really are getting better. In order to come to this conclusion, some redefinition of terms is required.

Have you noticed the similarity between that cartoon and the explanations we’re always given as the economy continues to decline? Well, the rate of decline is not as steep, we’re told.

There is one success story, though, in the midst of the bleakness on the job front.

God gave the ability to produce wealth. I believe He wants individuals to learn how to use it according to His precepts. The wealth belongs to those individuals, not to the government.