John Wesley knew grinding poverty as a child. His father was the Anglican priest in one of England’s lowest-paying parishes. He had nine children to support and was rarely out of debt. Once John saw his father being marched off to debtor’s prison. When John became a teacher at Oxford University he was paid more than enough to live on. He spent his money on playing cards, tobacco and brandy.
While at Oxford, an incident changed his perspective on money. He had just finished paying for some pictures for his room when one of the chambermaids came to his door. It was a cold winter day, and he noticed that she had nothing to protect her except a thin linen gown. He reached into his pocket to give her some money to buy a coat but found he had too little left. Immediately the thought struck him that the Lord was not pleased with the way he had spent his money. He asked himself, “Will thy Master say, ‘Well done, good and faithful steward’? Thou hast adorned thy walls with the money which might have screened this poor creature form the cold! O justice! O mercy! – Are not these pictures the blood of this poor maid?”
Perhaps as a result of this incident, in 1731 Wesley began to limit his expenses so that he would have more money to give to the poor. He records that one year his income was 30 pounds and his living expenses 28 pounds, so he had 2 pounds to give away. The next year his income doubled, but he still managed to live on 28 pounds, so he had 32 pounds to give to the poor. In the third year, his income jumped to 90 pounds.
Instead of letting his expenses rise with his income, he kept them to 28 pounds and gave away 62 pounds. In the fourth year, he received 120 pounds. As before, his expenses were 28 pounds, so his giving rose to 92 pounds.
Wesley felt that the Christian should not merely tithe but give away all extra income once the family and creditors were taken car of. He believed that with increasing income, what should rise is not the Christian’s standard of living but the standard of GIVING. This practice, begun at Oxford, continued throughout his life. Even when his income rose into the thousands of pounds sterling, he lived simply, and he quickly gave away his surplus money.
One year his income was a little over 1400 pounds. He lived on 30 pounds and gave away nearly 1400 pounds. Because he had no family to care for, he had no need for savings. He was afraid of laying up treasures on earth, so the money went out in charity as quickly as it came in. He reports that he never had 100 pounds at any one time.
Wesley limited his expenditures by not purchasing the kinds of things thought essential for a man in his station of life. In 1776 English tax commissioners inspected his return and wrote him the following: “[We] cannot doubt but you have plate for which you have hitherto neglected to make an entry.” They were saying a man of his prominence certainly must have some silver plate in his house and were accusing him of failing to pay excise tax on it. Wesley wrote back, “I have two silver spoons at London and two at Bristol. This is all the plate I have at present, and I shall not buy any more while so many round me want [need] bread.”
Wesley’s guidelines on money: [see #872]
1. Gain all you can. Money can be used for good. But do not thereby damage yourself, others, or the environment.
2. Save all you can. Two reasons were not to waste money, and not to increase desires.
3. Give all you can. Giving begins, but does not end, with the tithe.
Four Scriptural principles on spending:
a. Provide things you and your family need. 1 Tim 5:8
b. Have food and clothes and be content. 1 Tim 6:8
c. Do what is right in the eyes of everyone. Owe no debt. Rom 12:17; 13:8
d. Do good to all men. Gal 6:10
In giving these four biblical principles, Wesley recognized some situations were not clear-cut. He accordingly offered four questions to help his hearers decide how to spend money:
1. In spending this money, am I acting like I own it, or am I acting like the Lord’s trustee?
2. What Bible verse requires me to spend this money this way?
3. Can I offer up this purchase as a sacrifice to the Lord?
4. Will God reward me for this expenditure at the resurrection of the just?
In 1744 Wesley wrote, “When I die if I leave behind me ten pounds… you and all mankind can bear witness against me, that I have lived and died a thief and a robber.” When he died in 1791, the only money mentioned in his will was the miscellaneous coins to be found in his pockets and dresser drawers. Most of the 30,000 pounds he had earned in his lifetime he had given away. As Wesley said, “I cannot helping leaving my books behind me whenever God calls me hence; but in every other respect, my own hands will be my executors.”
[Adapted from Leadership magazine, Winter 1987. See also #872]