‘Gain all you can.’ Here we may speak like the children of the world: we meet them on their own ground. But it is certain that we ought not to do; we ought not to gain money at the expense of life, nor at the expense of our health. We are secondly, to gain all we can without hurting our mind, any more than our body. We are thirdly, to gain all we can without hurting our neighbor.

Having gained all we can, by honest wisdom, and unwearied diligence, the second rule of Christian prudence is, ‘Save all you can.’ Do not throw the precious talent into the sea. Expend no part of it merely to gratify the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eye, or the pride of life. [Toward that end,] [d]espise delicacy and variety, and be content with what plain nature requires.

But let not any [one] imagine that he has done anything, barely by going thus far, by ‘gaining and saving all he can,’ if he were to stop here. All this is nothing, if a [person] goes not forward, if he does not point all this at a farther end. Having, first, gained all you can, and, secondly, saved all you can, then ‘give all you can.’

In order to see the ground and reason for this, consider, when the Possessor of heaven and earth [God] brought you into being, and placed you in this world, He placed you here, not as a proprietor, but as a steward: as such He entrusted you, for a season, with goods of various kinds. As you yourself are not your own, but His [God’s], such is, likewise, all that you enjoy [including your money]. Such is your soul and your body, not your own, but God’s. And so is your substance in particular. And He has told you, in the most clear and express terms, how you are to employ it for Him, in such a manner, that it may be all in a holy sacrifice, acceptable through Christ Jesus. And this light, easy service, He has promised to reward with an eternal weight of glory.

—John Wesley, Sermon 50, The Use of Money

Here Wesley lays out the proper use of money for Christians. We are to earn as much as we can and save as much as we can so that we can use our financial resources to help as many in need as we can. As he notes at the end of this sermon, Wesley considered everything in this world as belonging to God, even our money. If we are to follow God in Christ, we must be serious about loving our neighbor as ourselves and helping those truly in need.

How is your stewardship of money working for you? Do you possess it or does it possess you?