What Does the Bible Say About Work and Wealth?

The greatest builder in history showed us the limits of work and wealth. You get to build for the One who carries it all.

You want what you build to last.

Think about the thing you've given the most of your life to. The business. The career. The practice, the ministry, the book of clients you spent twenty years earning. You remember the early days, when every win felt like it mattered. And if you're honest, you've noticed something change since. The raise came, but the pressure grew with it. The company grew, but so did the list of people depending on you. The house got bigger, but the evenings got shorter. And some nights a question slips in that you don't have time for. Who am I working for?

These aren't bad things to want, and I want you to hear that first. You were made to build. God put that in you. You want your work to count, your family to be provided for, and your name to mean something to the people who carry it after you. And you want Your Dash (that tiny line between your date of birth and your date of death on your headstone) to say you built something worth handing down.

If you've searched "what does the Bible say about work and wealth," "is it wrong to want to be rich as a Christian," or "why doesn't success satisfy," this post is the one I'd hand you across a table. You're asking the right question. And the answer lets you keep building.

Get the Gist Quick

Chapters five and six of Your Purpose & Principle Driven Life 2.0 follow King Solomon from wisdom into work, and from work into wealth. He built palaces, gardens, and reservoirs, gathered silver and gold beyond any king before him, and called it chasing the wind, because he couldn't keep any of it. Modern research points the same direction. Across 27 experiments with 3,649 people, even brief exposure to messages linking success and happiness to wealth lowered well-being.1 The Bible never tells you to stop working or to despise money. It moves both from Under The Sun to Under The Son, where work becomes Worship and wealth becomes Stewardship, and it hands you four steps to get there.

The whole post, in four bullets:

• The richest builder who ever lived asked who he was working for. He couldn't keep anything he built, and he wrote that down so you'd ask sooner.

• The Lie says one more step will finally be enough. One more wing, one more vineyard, one more number. Researchers found even the message makes us less well.

• Work and wealth were never the problem. Under The Son (Jesus), work becomes Worship and wealth becomes Stewardship. Same ambition, new Owner.

• Four steps move your treasure to where it lasts. Name who you're building for, point the work at Purpose, practice open hands, and plan for what comes after you, so Your Dash echoes into Eternity.

And now... the rest of the story.

The Lie

Two villains shadow every step of your life. Their names are Deception and Distraction.

Deception whispers the same Lie to every one of us, and when the work is going well, it sounds like this. "This is what will finally satisfy you." The next contract. The bigger office. The number you've been chasing since you first wrote it down. And Distraction doesn't tell you to leave the path. It tells you to take one more step. One more wing on the palace. One more vineyard. One more reservoir. Together they keep you building. And the question keeps coming back.

You see, the first thing that's true is that your work is good. Building a business, leading a team, and providing for a family are gifts from God, and you're right to take them seriously.

The second thing is the one most of the people I work with never say out loud. What happens to all of this when I'm gone? You keep that one to yourself, because it sounds morbid in a strategy meeting. It isn't. It's the most honest question a builder can ask.

And the third thing changes everything. Work and wealth can fill your barns, but they can't fill your soul. My book, Your Purpose & Principle Driven Life 2.0, puts it plainly. Work is a gift, but it can't be your god.

My friend, you're in good company. There once was a king who built more than anyone before him. Palaces gleamed under the sun. Vineyards hung heavy with grapes. Gardens were landscaped to perfection, and reservoirs fed whole forests. His treasuries overflowed with silver and gold, and his throne was ivory overlaid with pure gold. Nothing was beyond his reach. His name was Solomon, King David's son.

And after all of it, he stood on the rooftops he had built and confessed that he came to hate all his hard work, because he would have to leave it to whoever came after him (Ecclesiastes 2:18). He had more heirs than anyone could count, and the son who took his throne lost most of the kingdom almost immediately. Solomon saw it coming. So, he did something for you. He wrote it down, and he asked the question out loud. Who am I working for?

I Know the Road

I get it. I really do.

From the outside, my career looked like progress. I built it, provided for my family, and checked every box. I wore the mask of the man who had it together, all the way to the top of the American Dream. In my case, that meant the C-Suite.

And underneath the motion, Solomon's question was sitting there the whole time. Who am I working for? I didn't have a good answer. I had a good title.

I've also sat across the table from the other side of Solomon's worry. I've watched generational businesses die out because the founders never planned for what came after them. Good men and women who built something real, and never asked who it was for until someone else was left to answer.

So, I know what it feels like to pour your best years into something and wonder whether it will outlast you. In 2023 I walked away from the C-Suite, and I've spent the years since walking a lot of good men and women through that same question. That's what the rest of this post is for.

The Truth

There's good news. There's The Truth, and it lets you keep building.

Now, let's turn from The Sun to The Son, Jesus.

Solomon took his honest inventory of life Under The Sun to wake us up. Under The Sun, work becomes exhausting, wealth becomes restless, pleasure becomes addictive, wisdom becomes heavy, justice becomes cyclical, and Legacy becomes an afterthought.

Jesus doesn't enter our story to fix one category of life. He Transforms all of it. Under The Son, work becomes Worship. Wealth becomes Stewardship. Pleasure becomes Joy rooted in Gratitude. Wisdom becomes Guidance. Justice becomes Love in action. Legacy becomes Faithfulness that outlives the grave.

Jesus put the whole question of work and wealth into three sentences.

"Don't store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in Heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be." (Matthew 6:19–21)

Notice what Jesus does with your work and your money. He leaves them in your hands and tells you where to store what they produce. The word that carries the whole passage is treasure. Everyone has one. The question Jesus asks isn't whether you treasure something. It's where. And your heart will always follow what you invest in.

If you're reading this without Faith of your own, the pattern still holds, whatever you believe. People become like what they give their lives to.

Solomon pointed toward the pivot too. In the middle of all his laments, he calls it a good thing to receive wealth from God, to enjoy your work, and to accept your lot in life as a gift (Ecclesiastes 5:19). The problem was never possessions. It's thinking possessions are the point. As one man at the table in my book put it, "So the question isn't how much I own. It's what owns me."

Four Steps for Your Dash

Everything I do with clients runs on four steps. In Your Purpose & Principle Driven Life 2.0 they're written for the whole of life. Here they're written for you and the thing you're building, this week.

Step 1. Get Clear

Answer Solomon's question in one sentence. Who am I working for? Not who you tell people you're working for. Who the calendar says you're working for. Say it out loud to one person who won't flinch.

Then notice the voices telling you what enough looks like. You've probably felt it yourself. "I was fine with what I had until I started scrolling." Researchers pulled together 27 experiments with 3,649 people, and in each one some participants were shown messages linking success and happiness to wealth while others weren't.1 Those who saw the messages came away less well, and the effect looked strongest in how people felt about their relationships. In plain words, the scoreboard you keep looking at changes how you feel about your own life. I wrote about the moment work loses its meaning in When Work Stops Being Meaningful. This week, count how many times a day something tells you that you need more.

Step 2. Align with God's Heart

Point the work at a Purpose bigger than the balance sheet. The same job changes when you know who it's for. That's Solomon's pivot and Jesus' storehouse in the same move.

It works because meaning isn't a luxury at work. It's fuel. Researchers pooled 44 published studies covering 23,144 workers.2 The more meaningful people found their work, the more engaged, committed, and satisfied they were, and those were the strongest links in the whole study. They also reported more meaning in their lives overall. The same work, pointed at a new Owner, carries differently. When Work Becomes Worship walks this move inside the workplace in detail. This week, before you open the laptop on Monday, name one person your work is actually for.

Step 3. Establish Rhythms of Fitness

Build open hands into your week, because generosity is a rhythm before it's a feeling. Wealth clutched tightly forges chains. Wealth received with Gratitude and shared with open hands becomes Joy.

Researchers gathered 27 experiments with 4,045 people, in which some were asked to do acts of kindness for others, from small favors to spending money on someone else.3 The ones who did came away a little happier, and the lift held across men and women, young and old. One caveat and then we move on. The lift was modest, not dramatic. But a modest lift you practice every week adds up over a lifetime. This week, give something away with no one watching, and notice how it feels.

Step 4. Live Your Legacy Today

Plan for what comes after you, while you're still here to do it. Jesus told a story about a rich man who built bigger barns and planned years of comfort around them, and never asked who it was all for. God's question to him was the same as Solomon's. Who will get everything you worked for?

My friend, your Legacy is etched slowly. Faithfully. Often quietly. It's etched when you train the person who'll run it after you, when your kids know why you work the way you do, and when your giving has a plan instead of a guilty conscience. A wise old Southern gentleman once said you'll never see a U-Haul hitched up to a hearse. Calling as Stewardship goes further into holding your work as something entrusted to you. This week, write down one name. The person who'll carry what you've built, and one thing you'll teach them before the year is out.

What's at Stake

Walk this path, and this is what happens. Next year you're still building (maybe harder than ever). But when somebody asks what you do, you may notice you answer with who it's for before you answer with the title. The business is healthier because the people in it know they matter. There's a name on your succession plan and a plan behind your giving. Your kids have heard you explain why you work the way you do. And Your Dash starts to echo.

But there is another possibility. Ignore the path. Let The Lie win. Add one more wing, one more vineyard, one more number, and leave the question of who it's for to somebody else after you're gone. Solomon ran that experiment with everything a king could own, so you don't have to. Everything above starts much smaller than that. One sentence, one person, this week.

Going Deeper

This post covers Empire Building and Wealth & Possessions, chapters five and six of Your Purpose & Principle Driven Life 2.0, where Solomon's building and buying run side by side with Jesus' story of the bigger barns, His conversation with the rich young man, and His story of Lazarus at the gate. Get your copy here.

Last Monday's post was Solomon's Paradox, on why knowing more didn't satisfy him either. The King's story began two weeks earlier in The Man Who Had Everything and Called It Meaningless. This Wednesday takes the same two chapters into the boardroom.

And if you've built something real and you're not sure who it's for anymore, that's a conversation rather than another article. Book a Discovery Call.

FAQ: What the Bible Says About Work and Wealth

What does the Bible say about work and wealth?

That both are gifts from God and neither can be a god. Solomon calls it good to receive wealth, enjoy your work, and accept your lot as a gift (Ecclesiastes 5:19). Jesus tells us to store our treasure in Heaven rather than on earth, because our hearts follow what we invest in (Matthew 6:19–21). Work is meant to become Worship, and wealth is meant to become Stewardship.

Is it wrong to want to be rich as a Christian?

The Bible doesn't condemn wealth itself. It warns about loving money, trusting it for security, and ignoring people in need. Solomon wrote that those who love money will never have enough (Ecclesiastes 5:10). The question to ask isn't how much you own. It's what owns you.

Why doesn't success satisfy?

Because success was asked to do a job it was never built for. Solomon had more than any king before him and still called it chasing the wind. Research on materialistic messages points the same direction, with experiments finding that even brief exposure to wealth-equals-happiness messages lowers well-being.

What does "store up treasure in Heaven" mean?

It means investing your time, money, and effort in what outlasts this life, which in Jesus' teaching is people, Faithfulness, and the Kingdom of God. It doesn't mean refusing to save or plan. It means holding earthly things with open hands and pointing them at Eternal purposes.

What is biblical Stewardship?

Stewardship means treating what you have as entrusted to you rather than owned by you. Your money, your business, your gifts, and your time belong to God, and you manage them for His Purposes. The practical test is whether you'd be comfortable with the Owner looking over your books.

How do I plan a Legacy with my business or wealth?

Start with a name and a conversation. Identify who will carry what you've built, and begin teaching them now. Then put your giving on a plan rather than an impulse. For the legal and financial side, work with qualified advisors. Legacy planning is spiritual work and technical work at the same time.