Section 1: Introduction:
A Gospel Perspective on Wealth
Objectives
 A. Understand why to “Decide to Decide”
 B. Understand the Spiritual Foundation for
Using Wealth Wisely
 C. Understand other Gospel Truths about
Wealth
A. Why “Decide to Decide”?
 Your Future Starts Now
• You have many challenges ahead:
• Surviving this class and graduating
• Budgeting, spending, saving and investing
• Student loans, credit card debt, graduate school
• Marriage and children
• Missions
• Retirement
• How do you keep your (personal and financial)
priorities in order?
Why “Decide to Decide”?
 Elder James E. Faust stated:
• In this life we have to make many choices. Some
are very important choices. Some are not. Many of
our choices are between good and evil. The choices
we make, however, determine to a large extent our
happiness or our unhappiness, because we have to
live with the consequences of our choices. Making
perfect choices all of the time is not possible. It just
doesn’t happen. But it is possible to make good
choices we can live with and grow from.
(“Choices,” Ensign, May 2004, p. 51)
 How do you make good choices you can live
with and grow from?
Why “Decide to Decide”?
Elder Neal A. Maxwell commented:
 We see the world and the people in it differently,
because, as C. S. Lewis observed, it is by the light and
illumination of the gospel that we see everything else. .
The gospel is like the lens of a cosmic kaleidoscope
that, instead of showing life, man, and the universe as
senseless, unconnected fragments, shows us pattern,
beauty, and purpose! It is this vision that can give us a
special sense of proportion about the things in life that
matter most. . .This perspective can make so many
differences in so many ways that, unintentionally, we
may be unconscious of the implications of our
difference in outlook. (Neal A. Maxwell, “Talk of the
Month,” New Era, May 1971, 28.)
Why “Decide to Decide”?
 President Spencer W. Kimball said:
• “We hope we can help our young men and young
women to realize, even sooner than they do now,
that they need to make certain decisions only once.
… We can push some things away from us once and
have done with them! We can make a single
decision about certain things that we will
incorporate in our lives and then make them ours—
without having to brood and re-decide a hundred
times what it is we will do and what we will not do.
“… My young brothers [and sisters], if you have
not done so yet, decide to decide!” (Ensign, May
1976, p. 46; italics added.)
Questions
 Do you have any questions on why you need to
Decide to Decide?
B. Understand the Spiritual Foundation
for Using Wealth Wisely
 Much has been written and said about the importance
of wealth in our lives.
• Is wealth important?
 Is there a foundation that could help us manage our
wealth better?
• What is the spiritual foundation?
• The spiritual foundation is the principles that
hold everything else up.
 These pillars form the foundation, that if understood,
will help us keep our priorities in order and to use our
wealth as Jesus Christ would have us use it.
Pillar 1: Ownership
1. Everything we have is the Lord’s
• The Lord is the creator of the earth (Mosiah 2:21),
the supplier of our breath (2 Nephi 9:26), the giver
of our knowledge (Moses 7:32) and our abilities
(Mosiah 2:21).
• Nothing we have is our own—its all God’s
• In D&C 104:14-15 it states:
• I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens, and built
the earth, my very handiwork; and all things
therein are mine. And it is my purpose to
provide for my saints, for all things are mine.
(italics added)
Ownership (continued)
 The things we have or ever will have, or are or ever
will become, are really not ours
• They are on loan from a loving Father in Heaven
 There should be no feeling of pride for the things we
have, we are, or will become.
• Rather, they should encourage greater obedience to
God’s commandments as we realize they are gifts
from a loving Father in Heaven
Pillar 2: Stewardship
2. We are stewards over all that the Lord has or
will share with us
• The Lord through the Prophet Joseph Smith stated:
• “It is expedient that I, the Lord, should make
every man accountable, as a steward over earthly
blessings, which I have made and prepared for
my creatures.” (D&C 104:13)
• “For it is required of the Lord, at the hand of
every steward, to render an account of his
stewardship, both in time and in eternity.”
(D&C 72:3)
Stewardship (continued)
 Being blessed with the material things in life should be
seen not just as a blessing, but as a responsibility.
• We will all have to give an account of our
stewardship in the future to a loving Father and
Son.
 As wise stewards, it is our responsibility to learn
everything we can about our stewardship
• That way we can manage our stewardship to the
best of our abilities
• The purpose of this class is to help you
understand and manage that stewardship better!
Pillar 3: Agency
3. We were given our agency by a loving Father
in Heaven
• President Marion G. Romney said:
• “Agency means the freedom and power to
choose and act. Next to life itself, it is man’s
most precious inheritance.” (Ensign, May 1976,
p. 120.)
• The Lord said to Enoch:
• “Behold these thy brethren; they are the
workmanship of mine own hand, and I gave unto
them their knowledge, in the day I created them;
and in the Garden of Eden gave I unto man his
agency.” (Moses 7:32)
Agency (continued)
 Being blessed with the gift of agency was such an
important subject that a war was fought in heaven
• Satan sought “to destroy the agency of man”
(Moses 4:3). Do we appreciate what was done to
give us this gift?
 Instead of feeling pride for our things we have or are
• We should do everything in our power to thank a
loving Father and Son for this wonderful right to
choose—and then use that agency wisely!
Pillar 4: Choice and Accountability
4. We have been blessed with the gift of “choice,”
but we will be held accountable for its use
• We have been counseled by the Lord:
• Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in
a good cause, and do many things of their own
free will, and bring to pass much righteousness.
For the power is in them, wherein they are
agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men
do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.
(D&C 58: 27-28)
• We have been given the choice, but it is up to us to
choose wisely to “bring to pass much
righteousness.”
Choice and Accountability (continued)
 The first three pillars are God’s gift to us. The fourth
pillar is our gift to God
• We can, through the wise use of “choice,” show our
Heavenly Father how much we love Him by
making correct choices, obeying his
commandments, and striving to become more like
His Son.
 An additional purpose of this class is to help and
encourage you to make those choices wisely
What is really ours?
 On the subject of what’s really ours, Elder Neal
A. Maxwell stated:
• The submission of one’s will is really the only
uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s
altar. The many other things we “give,” brothers
and sisters, are actually the things He has already
given or loaned to us. However, when you and I
finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual
wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are
really giving something to Him! It is the only
possession which is truly ours to give! (italics
added, “Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father,”
Ensign, Nov. 1995, 22.)
C. Understand Gospel Truths
About Wealth
 Once you understand the foundation pillars,
are there other gospel truths about wealth?
• Gospel truths about wealth are statements that are
built on the pillars discussed earlier. They include:
• Ownership
• 1. Wealth is not a sign of righteousness
• 2. Because God shares freely with us, we
should share freely with others
• Stewardship
• 3. We have not earned the things we enjoy
• 4. Wealth is not a necessary qualification for
service in the Lord's Kingdom
Gospel Truths about Wealth (continued)
• Agency
• 5. Wealth can be either a blessing or curse
• 6. The love of money (not money) is the root of
evil
• Choice and Motivation
• 7. Wealth will not bring happiness nor solve all
your problems
Ownership Truths
 1. Wealth is not a Sign of Righteousness
• While financial blessings may be a result of
righteousness, more often than not the blessings are
spiritual
• William Jennings Bryan wrote in The Prince of
Peace: “The human measure of a human life is
its income; the divine measure of a life is its
outgo, its overflow its contribution to the welfare
of all."
• The best sign of righteousness is not wealth, but
how well we follow the example of our Savior
• Do we have His image in our countenances?
Ownership Truths (continued)
 2. Since God gives us blessings freely, we
should share them freely
• The prophet Jacob taught:
• “Think of your brethren like unto yourselves,
and be familiar with all and free with your
substance, that they may be rich like unto you.”
(Jacob 2:17)
• God does not ask us to be rich to help him.
• God gives us riches so we can show the world
and ourselves what we will do with them
• Since God gives us our blessings freely
• We should be willing to share them freely
Stewardship Truths
 3. We have not earned the things we possess
• In D&C 130:20-21 it tells us:
• “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven
before the foundations of this world, upon which
all blessings are predicated— And when we
obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience
to that law upon which it is predicated.”
• Blessings are not earned; rather, they are given by a
loving Heavenly Father. Instead of feeling pride for
our blessings, we should feel humble.
• Then we should work hard to thank our
Heavenly Father for all his wonderful blessings.
Stewardship Truths (continued)
 4. Wealth is not a necessary qualification for
service in the Lord's kingdom
• Of this President Gordon B. Hinckley said:
• “If that is the perception, I am sorry, because it is
a false perception. Out of the experience of
nearly a quarter of a century in organizing and
reorganizing scores of stakes, I can say that the
financial worth of a man was the least of all
considerations in selecting a stake president.
Wealth and financial success are not criteria for
Church service.” (“Tithing: An Opportunity to
Prove Our Faithfulness,” Ensign, May 1982,
40.)
Agency Truths
 5. Wealth can be a Blessing or Curse
• President N. Eldon Tanner said:
• The Lord gave the greatest success formula that
I know of : "Seek ye first the kingdom of God,
and his righteousness; and all these things shall
be added unto you." (“Constancy Amid
Change,” Ensign, Nov. 1979, 80.)
• President Brigham Young stated:
• "The worst fear ... I have about this people is
that they will get rich in this country, forget God
and His people, wax fat, and kick themselves out
of the Church. ... My greatest fear for them is
that they cannot stand wealth." (“This Is The
Place,” Tambuli, July 1977, 25.)
Agency Truths (continued)
 If wealth is bad, should we ever seek riches?
• The Nephite Prophet Jacob counseled:
• "But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the
kingdom of God. And after ye have obtained a
hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek
them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do
good-to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry,
and to liberate the captive, and administer relief
to the sick and the afflicted.“ (Jacob 2:18-19)
• Our first goal should be the Kingdom
• Only then should we seek riches. And we will
seek them for the right reasons, to do good, to
serve God, to help others
Agency Truths (continued)
6. Love of money is the root of all evil
Elder Theodore M. Burton commented:
• “Paul did not say that money itself was evil, but that
“the love of money is the root of all evil.”(1 Tim.
6:10.) Love of money, status, possessions, or
position more than righteousness begets a kind of
false pride that must be avoided. That is why the
Lord also told us that “if ye seek the riches which it
is the will of the Father to give unto you, ye shall be
the richest of all people, for ye shall have the riches
of eternity,. . .but beware of pride, lest ye become as
the Nephites of old.”” (D&C 38:39) (“A Disease
Called Pride,” Ensign, Mar. 1971, 26.)
Choice and Motivation Truths
 7. Money will not Bring Happiness or Solve
your Problems
• Henrik Ibsen said:
• "Money may be the husk of many things, but not
the kernel. It brings you food, but not appetite;
medicine, but not health; acquaintances, but not
friends; servants, but not faithfulness; days of
joy, but not peace or happiness.“ (in James E.
Faust, “Our Search for Happiness,” Ensign, Oct.
2000, 2.)
• Anne Sudweeks added:
• “If you can’t be happy without money, you will
never be happy with it.”
Choice and Accountability Truths (continued)
 I believe there are two types of problems in life:
• 1. Those we bring on ourselves from disobedience
to the commandments
• 2. Those that come as part of everyday living
 While money can solve some problems, there are
many it cannot solve.
• In fact, it brings along a host of its own problems:
pride, greed, selfishness, etc.
 Don’t seek for riches for its own sake.
• Seek riches for the good you can do, the people
you can help, and the lives you can bless
Conclusion
There is a Gospel Perspective on Wealth that is important
for us to understand. It is based on a foundation for
understanding wealth. It is:
• Ownership: Everything we have or are is a gift
from God. Remember that it is all His
• Stewardship: We are stewards over the things the
Lord has blessed us with. We must learn to be
better stewards—this class will help
• Agency: The ability to choose is a God-given gift.
Use it wisely
• Choice and Accountability: We are the final
decision makers. We must learn to choose
wisely—this class can- 29help
-
Conclusion (continued)
 It is critical to have a correct perspective on wealth.
Remember these truths:
• Ownership
• 1. Wealth is not a sign of righteousness
• 2. Because God shares freely with us, we
should share freely with others
• Stewardship
• 3. We have not earned the things we enjoy
• 4. Wealth is not a necessary qualification for
service in the Lord's Kingdom
Gospel Truths about Wealth (continued)
 Agency
• 5. Wealth can be either a blessing or curse
• 6. The love of money (not money) is the root of evil
 Choice and Motivation
• 7. Wealth will not bring happiness nor solve all your
problems
Review of Objectives
A. Do you understand why you need to Decide to
Decide?
B. Do you understand the Spiritual Foundation
for Using Wealth Wisely?
C. Do you understand some of the Gospel Truths
about Wealth?