Controversial Take: How You Manage Your Money is Much More Important Than How Much You Have

Most people manage their money with the goal of maximizing it to support their families and improve their lifestyles. However, what if your financial and investment decisions could do more than that—what if they could actually make you a better person?

Jesus Christ said, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21). We can take this as a challenge to strive to invest our resources in ways that align our hearts more closely with His mission. (This is the chief idea for Christians behind faith-based investing.)

Consider the Bible story of the rich young man (see Mark 10). Jesus, “beholding him, loved him,” and wanted this good man to continue drawing closer to Him. He challenged the man to “invest” differently, so to speak—in improving the welfare of his brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, the man walked away “grieved” because “he had great possessions” (Mark 10:22). His desires weren’t yet trained to prioritize following Christ above all else.

In a favorite sermon of mine, Dallin H. Oaks teaches that God’s judgment won’t simply be an accounting of the good or evil acts we have done, but an acknowledgment of “what we have become.” By making financial choices with Christ’s teachings foremost in our hearts, we can increasingly “have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16) and be filled with charity, the greatest of all attributes (1 Corinthians 13).

So, our money can do much more for us than make us comfortable. It can be a means for God to “create in [us] a pure heart” (Psalm 51:10).