You Might Be Surprised

What comes to mind as the worst things that an investor can do? The list might be long. Buying high and selling low might be viewed as the worst thing you can do. Perhaps it is having a gambling mentality, which is probably the case for many unsuccessful day-traders.  It might be focusing on the wrong types of assets, like bonds and annuities. But these are just symptoms of bigger problems.

A Bigger Underlying Problem is Greed

One vice that I frequently see and far too often succumb to is greed. Greed is sometimes an excessive desire to acquire and possess more than what one needs or deserves. It is closely related to the sin of pride, which is a universal sin. In fact, many sins are interrelated.

Greed is forbidden in God’s ten commandments. Greed begins in the realm of wrongful desires or coveting. In Exodus 20:17 God commanded: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” Included in this list are a spouse, servants, farm and travel vehicles, and “anything” that you see that your neighbor has. But greed isn’t your or my worst sin.

The Worst Sin Starts in the Ten Commandments

The worst sin is in Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me.” Far too many have their 401(k) as their god. Others have, of course, their IRA, ROTH IRA, or various brokerage and savings accounts. They spend more time with these gods than they ever do with a proper relationship to the one true God. They depend on their gods more than they would ever think to depend on or trust God.  Jesus said you cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24)

We Break the Second Commandment Too

Obviously there are ten commandments, and each is important. However, the second commandment also applies to investors. Exodus 20:4-6 says, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

Most of us in the Western world read that and immediately think, “At least I’m not guilty of this one.” Idol worship is silly. But we need to go back to Jesus’s words again.

Matthew 6:24 says, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” The master is the one you obey or serve. So Master Money is the god we serve.

If Jesus is right, and our worst sins are not worshipping the one true God and worshipping the idol called “money” or wealth, then we have completely failed in obeying the first two commandments.

Corrective Action

“We don’t often think of ourselves as worshipping idols because we think of idols in terms of statues and shrines. But God tells the leaders of Israel that they “have taken their idols into their hearts” (Ezekiel 14:3). We shouldn’t look down on the Israelites for worshipping idols. We should instead see a mirror of our own hearts.” – Tim Chester PhD, University of Wales

There are two possible choices. The first is to stay on the course we are on doing what we always naturally do. The second is to choose differently.

Joshua 24:15 “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Romans 6:20-23 “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Notice that part of God’s gift is letting Christ Jesus be who he is: Lord. We can continue to be slaves of sin, or we can be set free from sin. That changes our view of our investments and the reason we have them. It essentially changes us from greedy owners to generous stewards.

I highly recommend reading “Why We Worship Idols Instead of God” by Tim Chester.

All scripture passages are from the English Standard Version except as otherwise noted.