Thanks for your comment.

Perhaps you’re right we may need to see if it is best to be step seven or if it should come sooner.

I does make me feel strange that build wealth like crazy is what motivates so many Christians. But, you are right, making a lot of money is not the same as building wealth. It depends on what you do with the money you earn.

Whether we have a lot of wealth or a lot of debt, we can still be in bondage to Mammon. Giving is the “cure” for this bondage and I’m not convinced (based first upon multiple warnings from Jesus, followed by confirmation from my own experience) we can truly be free from this bondage while building extreme wealth. I’m afraid step seven may cause many people to be motivated to get out of debt, but not be motivated to get out of financial bondage as they’re still controlled by the wordly motivation to “Build Wealth Like Crazy”. This seems like an odd motivation for a Christian to promote when layed along side the warnings against accumulating wealth on this earth by Jesus himself (the one we are to follow, correct?). Don’t take that wrong, I think earning a lot of money is great when accompanied by attitude to let it pass through like a river, not let it “Build up” like a dam. A dam lets some through as well (Not unlike building wealth like crazy while also giving a lot away), but I think the river is a better picture of what Jesus is talking about. I like your idea of changing step seven to “Give Like Crazy” and I’d go as far as having that alongside the other steps as well to temper oversaving for retirement and college. Step seven would be even more motivating if it was “Give Like Crazy” as Jesus says we are storing up for ourselves treasures in heaven. If we really grasped this concept of eternal rewards, it would be a much greater motivator than building earthly wealth. We could change step seven to “Build Eternal Wealth Like Crazy by Giving Like Crazy!”

In his Financial Peace course and on his talk show he talks extensively about the living like no one else / giving like no one else connection. He even dedicated an entire section of Financial Peace University to this subject – GIVING like no one else.

I appreciate your emphasis on the importance of giving in a Christian’s finances. I especially liked how you pointed out that Dave could have said “live like no one else so you can give like no one else”, but he did not. That’s my biggest concern with Christian financial advice today. So often we get caught up on how wisely managing your finances can do so much for you (helping you become rich and buying the things you want).

But Jesus’ emphasis (and the rest of the Bible as well) was that we should use the good things God has blessed us with to help those in need. Jesus was vehemently opposed to His followers amassing wealth beyond their needs because such a goal is motivated by greed and covetousness. Yes, we should use wisdom and prudence in our finances – but it’s not so we can become rich and have all the “nice things” the world offers. It’s so we can use the abundance (that which is beyond our needs) to help others.

Anything else is from Satan and threatens to consume Christians with discontentment and slavery to Money (greed).
.-= Paul Williams @ Provident Planning´s last blog ..Selfish or Selfless? =-.

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