BOTW: The Treasure Principle

Small, but challenging.

After finishing my review of Soulprint (read it here), I was eligible to request another book from the Blogging for Books program at Water Brook Multnomah and so I had them send me a complimentary copy of The Treasure Principle, by Randy Alcorn.

When I ordered it, I knew it sounded familiar, and I was right. Seems I already had a copy, but like a lot of the books on my shelf, I’d only read a few pages of it, and that was a looonnnggggg time ago. I knew the copy being UPS’ed to me was an updated copy, but I went ahead and read what I had, and even though this one is short (under 100 pages), it took the week to read it because of how thought-provoking it was.

The Treasure Principle is a book about money, and more specifically, our money.  Alcorn shares what he calls the treasure principle, which is: You can’t take it with you- but you can send it on ahead. It is a lesson he learned the hard way, after a pro-life demonstration at an abortion clinic went wrong and he found himself on the bad side of a $8.4 million judgement that would have his church salary garnisheed and given to the clinic. Not willing to have his pay go to support what he opposed, Alcorn chose to resign his position and work for minimum wage so his salary wouldn’t support abortions.  I’m sure you can learn more with a Google search, but my purpose in sharing it here is just to give some background about how the author came to view possessions the way he did.

Along with the main treasure principle, Alcorn takes the remaining chapters in the book to share what he calls “keys” to unlocking the main principle.  I don’t want to give away each one, but they are solid, and each one was backed up with references in Scripture.  Never once did it seem that Alcorn was preachy in his writing, and that made it a lot easier to deal with the truth he shared in the book.  The author is a masterful communicator, and drops plenty of great illustrations in the book that are easy to remember and very thought-provoking.  One of the better ones came early in the book and Alcorn is explaining the reality that, as Christians, we believe that this world is not our own.  The writer compares the rampant materialism in our culture to people stockpiling Confederate currency even though the collapse of the Confederacy was inevitable.  His question was simple: “If you had a pile of Confederate currency and knew the Union would win the war, what would you do with it?” The answer is simple, as well: you’d exchange it for Union currency.  It is a question we must ask ourselves when it comes to where we put our wealth. Some other gems from The Treasure Principle:

The same Greek word is used for Christian giving as for God’s grace. (p. 30)

But isn’t it wrong to be motivated by reward? No, it isn’t. If it were, Christ wouldn’t offer it to us as a motivation. Reward is His idea, not ours. (p. 39)

Where we choose to store our treasures depends largely on where we think our home is. (p. 45)

The average American shops six hours a week while spending forty minutes playing with his children. (p. 50)

Nearly every study indicates that American Christians give on average between 2 and 3 percent of their income. (p. 61)

The point is not to rob God less – it’s not to rob God at all. (p. 63)

The bottom line is that Alcorn does a great job tackling a touchy subject and trying to bring some eternal perspective to it.  Let’s face it, nobody likes to be told what to do with their money, but Alcorn does a great job of writing hard truths about what the Bible says about money, wealth and generosity. He lays out his understanding of a God-centered life in the area of finances and does it very humbly, adding plenty of personal anecdotes that reveal the school of hard knocks where Alcorn got the education on money that he shares with his readers. Even if you don’t agree with what he proposes in The Treasure Principle, you’ll find yourself encouraged by knowing that there is one more author who actually lives what he writes.

RATING MY REVIEW HELPS ME FEED MY BOOK ADDICTION! THANKS!!!

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review as a part of their Blogging for Books program.

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