What is Denzel Washington’s net worth?
What is Denzel Washington’s net worth?
Questions like this come up at dinner with friends and one of you searches the internet for a (barely) trustworthy website that tells you Denzel is worth $300 Million.
If you gather up all the homes, cars, investments, cash… everything valuable that has come Denzel’s way after playing all those amazing characters in the movies we’ve watched–it is worth $300,000,000.00.
What’s your net worth? Do you know? It might surprise you if you step back and add up all the things God has given as a blessing.
I’ve got a shocking surprise for you.
You and Denzel Washington have the same true net worth.
In reality, neither of you owns anything. The sum total of all that you own is $000,0000,000.00.
It is wise and helpful to take account of what we have and what we manage. Knowing a net worth is not wrong.
But knowing that God is the fundamental Owner of everything is foundational to true financial wisdom.
Listen to the words of Psalm 50:7–12,
7 “Listen, my people, and I will speak;
I will testify against you, Israel:
I am God, your God.
8 I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices
or concerning your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.
9 I have no need of a bull from your stall
or of goats from your pens,
10 for every animal of the forest is mine,
and the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird in the mountains,
and the insects in the fields are mine.
12 If I were hungry I would not tell you,
for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
Two realities in this passage will dramatically impact your perspective of your finances (and other resources).
God already owns everything.
God doesn’t need anything from you.
The world is God’s and everything in it. He creates, directs, protects, and uses His resources for His glory. When we manage resources, we use the resources of God's world.
The Scripture specifically addresses finances, "the silver is mine and the gold is mine" (Haggai 2:8).
It is easiest to forget God owns everything when I start talking about “my money.”
When the money is tight, we can begin to think about God as stingy or owing us something more.
11 Who has a claim against me that I must pay?
Everything under heaven belongs to me.
Job 41:11
We deceive ourselves when we pretend we deserve what we’ve earned because of our own strength.
This forgets that God supplied our earning energy in the first place!
17 You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” 18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
Deuteronomy 18:17–18
The money and resources we manage have been received by the kindness of God. We steward them 1) under Him and 2) for a time.
These realities press us to humility before God in our finances.
The money we have is fundamentally God’s.
The money we give is not contributing to God.
The money we have is not ours to hoard against God’s command.
Christians have a powerful financial perspective that is different from the world and false religions.
We are not contributing to God when we give and we definitely are not buying His favor.
We give to God as an expression of thanksgiving for what He entrusted to us and we see hoarding His resources in a new light.
Are you willing to refinance in light of Scripture?
When we reevaluate our finances according to Scripture and recognize our net worth is entirely God’s, it calls us to reevaluate our spending and our giving with fresh, eternal eyes.1
These thoughts were spurred and shaped by a “20 Day Study in Stewardship” produced by Redeemer Presbyterian Church, particularly lesson 2.