In looking at the logs of my legions dozens of readers, I found someone came to the blog by searching for:

can a christian be poor

So in case you, curious web surfer, ever return to this blog (or anyone searches for that phrase again), there is a short answer to your question:

Yes.

I assume from your question that you’re not too familiar with the Christian faith. Or maybe you are, and the question reflects familiarity with Joel Osteen, the Prayer of Jabez, Ken and Gloria Copeland, etc. Or perhaps you’ve read certain Psalms and the like.

But there’s a more pressing question taking the entirety of the biblical witness into account: Can a Christian be rich?

Probably; but she’d need to be careful.

  • Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have.
  • And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.”
  • If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
  • But the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
  • No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other you cannot serve God and wealth.

And so on.

To be rich implies accumulation of wealth, or at least having a sizable surplus. And it’s hard to read the New Testament and conclude that saving large amounts of money or acquiring possessions is a worthy Christian goal, at least if it’s merely to have them or for selfish purposes. The Old Testament exhoratons of saving money little by little or ensuring your heirs have an inheritance are absent in the New. When money is mentioned in the New Testament, people are either giving it to the cause of the kingdom, or find that it’s a stumbling block between them and God.

And yes, I’m talking to myself. You’re reading this on a blog from someone who has leisure time, can afford internet access, has not non-volunatily missed a meal, and is in the top few % of global wage earners (per http://globalrichlist.com/).