Poverty, Riches, & Wealth by Kris Vallotton

Poverty, Riches, & Wealth is a quick and fascinating read that essentially functions as a compilation of anything and everything Kris Vallotton has to say about money. Many of chapters feel only loosely connected at best, but each one is packed with revelatory insight, which is particularly refreshing given that money is a topic that most pastors either misunderstand, intentionally manipulate, or avoid altogether. And of course, in classic Kris V fashion, the interwoven stories throughout the book are the icing on the cake - this dude is hilarious. Some of the high points Kris hits on include:

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• Wealth is about a mindset more than chasing a dollar amount. In fact, if we're chasing a dollar amount, that's a telling sign that we haven’t yet become wealthy!
• Jesus wasn’t poor. Not even close.
• Tithing is still for today - not just an Old Testament rule.
• The art of motivating your employees to work harder in a way that not only benefits them individually, but also operates in the best interest of the team and company at large.

If I were to give a single central message or theme to Kris’ new book, it would be this: Christians get bent out of shape when it comes to money - largely due to incorrect assumptions of the Bible says - and it’s time for us to cut it out! Most of the book is an explanation & justification of ‘why,’  and occasionally you get a bit of the ‘how.’ His first action step on how to get wealthy? - start giving some money away! Counter-intuitive, isn’t it?

Check out some of his best quotes for yourself:

Jesus And Wealth

• “If you make the mistake of judging Jesus’ net worth by His humble earthly condition, you will misjudge His prosperity and undermine His mission. The apostle Paul put it like this: ‘For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich’ (2 Corinthians 8:9). Wait! What did Paul say? Jesus was rich, but then He became poor, so (the reason He became poor) we might become rich. That is incredible!” (p. 28)
• “Wealth cannot be intrinsically evil, or the Bible would not describe heaven as a place full of unimaginable riches” (p. 29).
• “If Jesus can circumvent the process of wealth creation by creating money out of thin air, or by making wine instantaneously from water, or by taking a boy’s lunch and multiplying it ten thousand times to feed a crowd that would fill an entire NBA basketball stadium, or by increasing a fisherman’s catch by 1,000 percent, then there is no way He can ever be called poor… Jesus was no homeless transient, traversing the countryside with twelve vagabonds. He actually was a famous traveling rabbi who grew up in a middle-class carpenter’s home and had a very well-funded ministry” (p. 32-33).

The Differences Between Poverty, Riches, And Wealth
From wealth thinking vs. poverty thinking vs. rich thinking, pp. 60-62:

• “Poverty finds a problem in every opportunity, while wealth finds an opportunity in every problem … Rich people give to people [with problems]. Wealthy people invest in people, with the expectation of a return on their investment, measured by a predetermined outcome. Examples are a changed life, a transformed neighborhood, a business profit, etc.”

• “Poverty fears the future, yet wealth makes history … Rich people compete for [future] money. Wealthy people are compelled by destiny.”

• “Poverty blames others for its condition, but wealth takes responsibility for things that are not its fault … Rich people step on others [worsening their conditions] to move up. Wealthy people measure success by the people they held up.”

• “Poverty hangs around with other disgruntled sorts who validate its accusations, but wealth surrounds itself with other powerful influencers … Rich people get their identity from the things they own: their houses, cars, yachts, money, etc. Wealthy people’s identity comes from who they are, not what they own.”

Interestingly, the difference between the rich and the poor is not much at all; they are simply on opposite ends of the economic spectrum. Internally, though, they are actually the same - both are focused on money: either their lack of it or their surplus, either as their enemy or as their savior. On the other hand, the wealthy can exist anywhere along the economic spectrum, as their focus is not on money, but on influencing peoples and societies for the better. 

God’s Heart For Wealth Creation

• “In this case, wealth is actually a sign of God’s blessing on a person’s life, or on a city or a nation’s life… According to Moses, sometimes prosperity has everything to do with your relationship with God. In fact, some people are wealthy because they know God” (p. 103).
• “It is impossible to read the Bible with an open mind and miss the fact that ‘It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich, and He adds no sorrow to it’ (Proverbs 10:22). But some people would argue that this is an Old Testament revelation that does not apply to New Testament believers. Do you really believe that an inferior covenant should provide superior benefits? Really? That might sound spiritual, but it actually is opposed to the Scriptures themselves. The writer of the book of Hebrews put it like this: ‘But now He [Jesus] has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises’ (Hebrews 8:6)” (p. 106).
• “Bezalel was the very first person ever mentioned in the Bible as being filled with the Holy Spirit… Bezalel was not releasing captives or freeing prisoners; instead, the Spirit of God within him gave him the supernatural ability for creativity. God anointed him to cut stones, carve wood and create beautiful things with gold, silver and bronze. To Bazelel, artistry was spiritual!” (p. 128).
• “The Lord basically said, ‘If you can figure out how to create a healthy ecosystem where money makes money, then you should have authority over cities.’ The connotation is that God is looking for people who are architects of a wealth culture to lead cities, because He wants cities to prosper” (p. 151).

The Power Of Consistent Choices

• “Some people who look like the victims of an unjust system are actually just casualties of their own inability to live up to their full capacity and be faithful stewards of what was entrusted to them. Others who seem to have a gold finger are actually just people who took calculated risks that led to incalculable reward” (p. 146).
• “Many people are extremely gifted and are capable of delivering a level 10 every time they are up to bat (metaphorically speaking), but they are inconsistent, irresponsible and immature. Because they are so much more capable than the rest of the team members, they are often surprised that nobody wants them on their team. Yet you cannot count on them to perform consistently, because they lack character. A culture of prosperity is rooted in trust that is build on consistency. Whether you are building a great company or just doing life with your friends, fulfilling the expectations you create is the pathway to a prosperous life” (p. 153).

Bigger Vision

• “We certainly cannot transform cities if nobody likes us or if we have no favor with influencers. It is also true that there are many different ways to gain favor, but in a world influenced by Mammon, generosity really gets people’s attention” (p. 154).
• “I am baffled by the fact that the greatest thinkers in the world are often godless, humanistic, self-centered, self-absorbed atheists. This is an open indictment against the Body of Christ. It troubles me that many people who claim they are Christians live with limited, powerless, finite thinking. How is this even possible? How do people who claim to have the Creator of the universe living inside them, the mind of Christ thinking through them, and the Spirit of God influencing the world around them even have the nerve to think small? I propose that we believers don’t have permission to live with limited mindsets (p. 112).
• “Hope for the future is the essential element to accessing unlimited thinking. In other words, in order to tap into eternal thinking, we must believe there is supposed to be a future. Why would anyone waste time thinking of divine solutions for world problems if there is not supposed to be a future? It is impossible to inspire people to straighten chairs on the deck of the sinking Titanic” (p. 119).

Do you feel like you have a healthy mindset when it comes to money and wealth? Or did something Kris say in his book differ from what you were taught growing up? Given that money will be a part of our lives for as long as we live, we'll do ourselves good by investing in the way that we think about and engage with it. From my experience, reading Poverty, Riches, & Wealth is a great way to do that. 

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