4 Dimensions of Faith and Investing
To understand the purpose and impact of Faith Based Investing, it is important to look at the fundamental relationship between our faith and money. God and money. Or perhaps more accurately, God or money? Which of these has the higher priority in our lives? We know which one should have the higher priority, but in practice we often center our lives around money and things money provides.
In his book Counterfeit Gods, Tim Keller writes that
“internal idol worship, within the heart, is universal… the human heart takes good things like a successful career, love, material possessions, even family, and turns them into ultimate things. Our hearts deify them as the center of our lives, because, we think, they can give us significance and security, safety and fulfillment, if we attain them.”
The point here is not to disengage from a successful career, love, money or any of these. It is simply to understand their relative priority to what we know should be the highest priority – God. Further, it is then to consider how our Faith in God effects our actions, and specifically in this case how our Faith effects our actions with our wealth – faith and investing.
There are 4 main dimensions of money in our lives. We earn it from our work or vocation. We spend it on things we want or need. What is left we can invest to increase our wealth. From what we earn, save, and invest we can give to others or leave for our families. Earn, Spend, Invest and Give. Within each of these dimensions, it is appropriate to consider how our faith and the values that derive from that faith, can or should impact our actions.
On each dimension, there are some simple questions worth considering. The first question in each is always should Faith influence and affect actions?
EARN – Where do I work? How do I work? How much should I work?
SPEND – How much do I spend? Where do I spend? For what do I spend?
INVEST – How much should I invest? In what should I invest? With whom should I invest? What is my risk tolerance on investing?
GIVE – How much do I give? Where do I give? How do I give?
The easy part is asking the questions on each dimension. The much harder part is answering those questions honestly with the right perspective, and acting from that answer. And doing that over and over and over.
Independent BUT Inter-dependent
It is possible to look at each of these dimensions, and make decisions about integration of faith only within that one dimension. There is independence in each dimension. But they are also inter-related and highly inter-dependent when considered holistically. Where we work and how we work can certainly impact how much money we earn and therefore how much we have and for what do we spend it. Decisions on spending and saving certainly impact how much is left to save and invest, and thus how we invest. Finally, how we invest determines how much I will have to be generous in giving to others.
The point here is not to suggest that every decision we make has the same impact. Nor is it to suggest even that each dimension is as important as the others. We spend much more of our time in our vocations, so how we bring our faith into that work may have more significant impact than other dimensions. But integrating faith well in one dimension does not, nor should it, excuse neglecting integration in the other dimensions.