Stop Saying It’s My Hard-Earned Money!

            What’s wrong in saying ‘it’s my hard-earned money’? After all, you have worked very hard to earn it.

            Some people work extra long hours. They hardly sleep. Such is their work or such is their need to work long and arduous hours.

            Then there are those who sacrifice much to work. Because of their work demands, these good people sacrifice even the comfort of being with their family. They work abroad while their family stays back in their homeland. They work in such dreadfully deplorable work situations. They earn a mere pittance. Why is it wrong for them to say it’s their hard-earned money?

            To refer to our income as our hard-earned money is indeed a pragmatic perspective.

            However, the phrase it’s my hard-earned money would be incomplete and even disingenuous from a Christian perspective. Hence, I suggest that we remove the phrase it’s my hard-earned money from our vocabulary.

            Why?

            Life is a prerequisite to work. We need to live to work.

            However, we have absolutely no control over our lives. In fact, we cannot be certain of our existence through the next minute. Such is the temporal nature of our life. The Bible assures us about the fleeting nature of our life:

            “For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall…”” (1 Peter 1:24, NIV).

            “You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? For you are a puff of smoke that appears for a short time and then vanishes.” (James 4: 14, NET).

            God gives us life. Our birth and death are determined by God. Consider these verses:

            “The Lord brings death and makes alive…” (1 Samuel 2: 6a, NIV).

            “All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind…” (John 1: 3-4, NET).

            “…because he himself gives life and breath and everything to everyone…” (Acts 17: 25, NET).

            So it is certain that in order to work, we need life and that life is given by God. In other words, God enables us to live and work.

            God blesses us with health. Mere life is not sufficient for us to work. Health is a very important prerequisite to function normally and admirably. This too is a blessing from God, “The Lord will protect you from all sickness, and you will not experience any of the terrible diseases… (Deuteronomy 7: 15a, NET; cf. Jeremiah 33: 6; Proverbs 3: 8, 4: 22; 3 John 1: 2).

            A healthy life is a basic necessity to work well. It is God who blesses us with a healthy life.

            Need we ponder more!

            It is adequately established that in order for us to go to work (forget about working well), we are absolutely dependent on God.

            God’s blessing enables us to go to work.

            Now comes the part where we ought to work well to earn our income. The possibility of joblessness will loom large if we do not work well.

            Who then provides us with the necessary abilities to excel in our workplace?

            A successful surgeon should be able to focus well on the surgery for long hours without losing his concentration. A mere slip could be costly.

            A dentist’s hands ought to be absolutely sensitive to the patient’s dental requirements. (A mere slip of the dentist’s hands could render the patient toothless.)

            Then there are good teachers and not-so-good teachers. Dedicated and knowledgeable teachers are good teachers.

            Knowledge, wisdom and all other attributes necessary to work well comes from God, “The Lord’s Spirit will rest on him — Spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom, a Spirit that provides the ability to execute plans…” (Isaiah 11: 2, NET; cf. Proverbs 2: 6).

            So we are absolutely dependent on God to work well.

            Our income is predicated on the extent of success we enjoy at our workplace.

            God blesses us with success, “The Lord grants success to the one whose behavior he finds commendable.” (Psalm 37: 23, NET).

            We pray to God for success, “May our Sovereign God extend his favor to us. Make our endeavors successful.” (Psalm 90: 17, NET cf. Psalm 118: 25; Proverbs 16: 20).

            Think about it. We are absolutely dependent on God for life, health, and success, which are the prerequisites to work well in order to earn money.

            How then can we claim that it’s our hard-earned money?

            Our money is a blessing from God.

            So it’s not my hard-earned money.

            Whenever we mention our money, let our statements honor and glorify God.

            We could say, God blessed me to work hard and earn money or By the grace of God I was able to work hard and earn money or another similar variant.

            But let us honor and glorify God with our money and all references to it.