The Gospel of Wealth

A good person leaves an inheritance for their children's children, but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous.

-- Proverbs 13:22

  

We think of the Wright Brothers for their history-making contributions to aeronautics, Alexander Graham Bell for telecommunications and Henry Ford for transportation. Their names and the genius of their work influence the world to this day. On the other hand, our nation's third president —also a great man—wished only to be remembered for what's inscribed on his tombstone:

Here was buried

Thomas Jefferson

Author of the Declaration of American Independence

of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom

& Father of the University of Virginia

Andrew Carnegie left a much different legacy. Born into poverty in 1835, he leveraged

his thirst for knowledge to become a successful industrialist and eventually the world's richest man. Carnegie sold his steel company in 1901 for what's today $13 billion. And for the rest of his life, he became known as the Father of Modern Philanthropy for giving away most of his vast wealth to benefit others. Carnegie underwrote the construction of 2,811 libraries, established a retirement pension for teachers and founded what’s today known as Carnegie-Mellon University.

By the time of his death in 1919, Carnegie was the primary financier of half of America's public libraries. The premise of his essay The Gospel of Wealth speaks volumes about what drove him to spread his riches:

"The man who dies rich dies disgraced."

Millions of people still benefit from Andrew Carnegie's legacy a century after his death. What's more, there are biblical parallels to Carnegie's example of generosity for the betterment of others. Our bank accounts might be modest when compared to his. But as Christ-followers, we have enormous wealth to share by living out the key messages of The Gospel--the Good News of Jesus. We can tell others about Christ paying the price for our sins and theirs (past, present and future) when he died on the cross in our place. Then, just as predicted centuries before in the Old Testament, God resurrected him to life to forever defeat the power of sin and death in our lives. It's this same power that will one day raise all believers to eternal life and joy with our Creator.

Whether you're 19 or 99, rich or poor and famous or obscure, it's not too late to establish your legacy. A skeptical world is watching to see how Christ-followers live out their faith each day. Let's respond by freely sharing the riches of Christ's transforming power.