Excerpts from THE TREASURE PRINCIPLE

 

THE TREASURE PRINCIPLE, a book by Randy Alcorn is quite a small one with 120 pages. It was given to me by a beloved uncle when I asked him a small question on finances while I just started earning. The book changed the way I saw and handled money. So to those of you who don’t have a copy or the time to read the book, please find time to read through these lines. Hope it helps!

1.      CHAPTER 1: Buried treasure

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose – Jim Elliot

The chapter starts with the story of the man who sold everything he had, to possess the buried treasure in the field.

LET’S JUST SAY, you are alive at the end of a civil war. You’re a northerner living in the South. You plan to move home as soon as the war is over. While in the south you have accumulated a lot of confederate currency. Now suppose you know for a fact that North is going to win the war, what will you do with your hard earned money? If you’re smart the only answer is to immediately cash in your currency to the North. Earth’s currency will be worthless when Christ returns or when you die and either of it can happen anytime!

TIME FOR SOME INVESTMENT ADVICE:

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. (Matthew 6:19-20)

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, because it is bad? No, because it is plain stupid as they won’t last. Every day is an opportunity to buy up more shares in His Kingdom. “You can’t take it with you but you can send it on ahead”

1.       CHAPTER 2: Compounding Joy

TALKING ABOUT AN EXAMPLE from his own life, Randy narrates an incident where his church high school group borrowed his new stereo and returned it in a not so great way. He also says that it was one of the first incidents through which God taught him that HE owned everything including his new stereo.  Another of His valued possessions was his books, with which God wanted him to begin a church library!

 INVESTMENT ADVICE:

He also talks about the joy of the poor Macedonian church in giving and quotes 2 Corinthians 8:2 in which severe trial, overflowing joy, extreme poverty and rich generosity are all contrasting words used to express the life of the Macedonians. One thing to notice is that overflowing joy and rich generosity go hand in hand even amidst severe trial.   

A steward manages assets for his owner’s benefit.

God owns everything, I’m his money manager.

Giving is not a privilege of the rich but of the poor.

The chapter concludes by saying that there is joy in giving and when you give you don’t sacrifice but gain.

1.       CHAPTER 3: Eyes on eternity

LET’S TAKE A LOOK at the graves of two people: Borden, a Yale graduate who rejected his life of opulence for four months of zealous ministry in Egypt after which he died of spinal meningitis at 25 and Tutankhamen, the boy king who was 17 when he died. The grave of one had so much gold in it for use in the hoped afterlife while the other grave was dusty. The truth that Tutankhamen cannot take his gold with him and that Borden already has his treasure in Heaven is quite a lesson.

Another important concept that I hope has stuck with me is this, the dot and the line:

(Pic courtesy: https://onthebigrock.wordpress.com/2016/04/13/live-for-the-line-not-for-the-dot/)

INVESTMENT ADVICE:

My heart always goes where I put God’s money.

I should live not for the dot, but for the line!

Moses left Egypt’s treasures “because he was looking ahead to his reward” (Hebrews 11:26)

1.       CHAPTER 4: Roadblocks to giving

HAVE YOU TAKEN A TRIP TO THE JUNKYARD? Randy suggests that a road trip to the junkyard where all our things eventually land up is a beautiful object lesson. Isn’t it true that all the small toys that we have fought for, all the dresses we wanted because our friend had it, the music players, phones and computers, all of it lands up ultimately in the Junkyard?

When we think of Heaven as our home, we will never want to hoard things on this our temporary place. Randy suggests that there, and that gives a perspective of what actually we run behind. On the other hand, there’s an image that was impressed on my heart.

Heaven, not earth, is my home.

Well, on the road of giving and being generous, there are roadblocks and the only way to jump through those blocks is by Giving and giving more. He says, if affluenza is the disease, what’s the cure? If materialism is a poison, the antidote is giving.

Giving is the only antidote to materialism

INVESTMENT ADVICE:

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. I Timothy 6:17 – 19

1.      CHAPTER 5 – Getting started

A BIT ABOUT TITHE: Randy talks about how tithe is mandatory but does not make it sound like a legal statement. In truth, we do know that Jesus raised every standard from the Old Testament and so, giving may not be limited to but always over and above tithe. The point is to not ROB God, as he says in Malachi 3:8-10. He reinstates the fact that the affluent should never check off the box as if tithing was in the to-do list.

In the beginning, Randy shares that he could not own any possession or royalties in his name due to an issue with the court. In the last few chapters he speaks about how the court issue was sorted but then God had taught him how to live on what he had, so he and his wife prayerfully refused the royalties. He confesses that he had learnt to live well and comfortably with the money he had.

God prospers me not to raise my standard of living but to raise my standard of giving

1.      CHAPTER 6: For such a time as this

C T Studd – Only one life, ‘twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.

LET’S TALK ABOUT IT:Randy talks about how we need to talk about each other’s giving and encourage each other for the gift of giving. As an example he points out about how the exact weight of gold given to the temple of God was recorded in the Old Testament. Paul also talks openly about how the Macedonians gave encouraging the others to experience the joy of giving. 

FINAL INVESTMENT ADVICE : remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said:  It is more blessed to give than to receive – Acts 20:35

 Click to listen to a nice song about giving