More than 250 years ago, John Wesley preached a sermon about money that might be more relevant today than ever.
His advice can be summed up in nine words.
“Gain all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can.”
Three simple instructions that offer a remarkably practical approach to living a meaningful life.
Wesley, the 18th-century English evangelist who helped establish the Methodist movement, outlined those principles in his sermon “The Use of Money.”
I’ve been thinking about those words lately and how easy it is to lose sight of what money is supposed to accomplish.
Like most people, I work hard. I have bills to pay, a family to provide for and plans for the future.
I want to enjoy the occasional luxury and have a little security tucked away for whatever life might bring.
But somewhere along the way, it becomes easy to confuse making a living with making a life.
We convince ourselves the next raise, purchase or financial milestone will bring lasting satisfaction. Then we reach it and immediately begin looking toward the next one.
I’m certainly guilty of this, and I suspect I’m not alone.
Henry David Thoreau offered a similar observation in “Walden”: “The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”
I’ve always found that a sobering way to think about money.
We live in a world that tells us happiness is something we can purchase.
With a few taps on a phone, we can order almost anything imaginable.
We finance cars for seven years, spread purchases across monthly installments and subscribe to services we barely remember signing up for.
Entire industries exist to persuade us that whatever we own is inadequate.
Wesley would have had something to say about that, and I doubt we’d enjoy hearing it.
His first instruction was to gain all you can.
At first glance, that sounds like an endorsement of pursuing wealth. But Wesley’s meaning was more nuanced.
He believed people should work diligently, develop their abilities and make productive use of opportunities. Earning money could be a moral responsibility when it allowed someone to provide for a family and help others.
But that pursuit came with limitations.
We should never earn money by harming our neighbors, damaging our health or compromising our integrity.
The pursuit of wealth should never come at the expense of character.
That is an important distinction in a culture that often measures success by income, possessions and professional status.
A larger paycheck does not automatically represent a better life.
Wesley’s second instruction might be the most difficult for modern Americans.
Save all you can.
He was not simply advocating retirement accounts or emergency funds, although those would be sensible.
Wesley was warning against unnecessary consumption.
Consider how easily spending rises alongside income.
We receive a raise and begin thinking about a newer vehicle. We pay off one debt and replace it with another. We move into a larger house, then spend years filling it with things we probably never needed.
Economists call this lifestyle inflation.
Wesley had a simpler description.
Waste.
Of course, saving money today is not always easy. Housing, groceries, insurance and medical expenses can consume nearly everything a household earns, and those costs continue to strain family budgets.
For many families, there is little extravagance to eliminate.
But Wesley’s principle remains valuable.
Be intentional about spending. Recognize the difference between needs and wants.
Financial freedom sometimes comes not from earning more but from learning to require less.
Then comes Wesley’s third instruction.
Give all you can.
This is where his philosophy becomes something more profound than personal finance.
Wesley did not encourage people to earn money simply to accumulate it or save money to admire a growing bank balance.
The first two instructions existed to make the third possible.
Earn diligently. Spend wisely.
Then use those resources to make a difference in the lives of others.
For Wesley, generosity was not reserved for the wealthy. It was the ultimate purpose of responsible financial stewardship.
And this is where his message speaks most directly to our communities.
We tend to think of philanthropy as wealthy benefactors writing enormous checks. But generosity is not measured exclusively in dollars.
It is the retired couple who helps a struggling family pay an electric bill.
The business owner who sponsors a Little League team.
The neighbor who buys groceries for someone recovering from surgery.
The church congregation that stocks a food pantry or the volunteer organization that funds a local scholarship.
These acts rarely attract attention, but they are the quiet investments that hold communities together.
They illustrate something Wesley understood centuries ago.
Money is most valuable when it becomes a tool for serving others.
There is another lesson in his philosophy.
Wesley did not say to give whatever happens to be left over. He placed generosity at the center of the financial equation.
That differs from how many of us approach money.
We earn. We spend. We upgrade. We entertain ourselves.
And if anything remains, perhaps we give some away.
Wesley suggested reversing that mindset.
Every dollar we earn represents some portion of our time and effort. Every unnecessary purchase represents a little more of our lives exchanged for something we may not have needed.
Imagine approaching financial decisions knowing our resources could do more than improve our circumstances. They could improve someone else’s.
I’m not suggesting we abandon vacations, occasional luxuries or financial security.
But there is wisdom in examining what we earn, consume and contribute.
Are we working to support a meaningful life, or has work and consumption become the meaning of life?
Are our possessions serving us, or are we serving our possessions?
And are we using our good fortune to improve the lives of others?
Those are uncomfortable but worthwhile questions.
Perhaps there is one more place where Wesley’s advice deserves consideration.
Government.
Imagine applying those principles to public money.
Gain all you can. Encourage economic growth and create conditions where businesses and families can prosper.
Save all you can. Protect essential services while recognizing that every public dollar represents money earned by someone else. Waste should be no more acceptable in government than in our households.
Give all you can. Ensure public resources serve meaningful purposes and benefit the communities they are intended to help.
Of course, governing a city, state or nation is more complicated than managing a household budget. Governments have obligations individuals do not, and reasonable people disagree about how to fund them.
But the underlying questions remain.
Are we using resources wisely? Are we distinguishing needs from wants? Are we leaving something of lasting value for future generations?
Those questions belong at the kitchen table, in city hall and in the halls of Congress.
John Wesley lived in a world without credit cards, online shopping or automobile payments.
Yet his advice requires remarkably little updating.
Work hard without sacrificing your principles.
Live below your means whenever possible.
Give generously, recognizing that the greatest value of money may be what it allows us to do for someone else.
Gain all you can.
Save all you can.
Give all you can.
More than two centuries later, that still sounds like a pretty good financial plan.
And an even better plan for living.
Source: Freepik.com