Everybody's problem

It doesn’t much matter, says banker Joe Kesler, what dozen people you invite to sit down around the lunch table: They all have money problems.

For obvious reasons, they may not want to talk about those problems. It’s just too embarrassing. There’s the young father whose credit card debt has gotten way out of control. And there’s the widow who has an attractive nest egg for retirement, but absolutely no idea where to invest it productively and safely. They both have money problems. And then there’s everybody in between.

Kesler has had my attention in recent days because of his book entitled Smart Money with Purpose. But it’s especially the book’s subtitle that might intrigue Christian readers. The book is dedicated, Kesler says, to “liberating the goodness of money in your life.”

Kesler doesn’t just tolerate money as a necessary evil. He celebrates the stuff. And if you think that might be a hard assignment to carry off with solid biblical underpinnings—well, maybe you’re just the reader Kesler has had in mind.

Kesler has been in commercial banking for 37 years and serves now as CEO of First Montana Bank in Missoula. For the record, you should know that while he and I have talked on the phone, I wouldn’t know the man if he walked into my office. I have no personal interest in seeing his book sell well.

Kesler argues that money was part of God’s creation order—and included in what God called ‘good.’

But I am interested in helping heighten what we might call the “Money IQ” of Christians in general and evangelical Christians in particular. Kesler’s 200 pages of understandable English could help achieve that end.

Smart Money is thoughtfully rooted in biblical truth. Kesler argues that money was part of God’s creation order—and included in what God called “good.” And then he spells out how and why money, since the fall, has produced so many problems for all humankind, including Christian families, businesses, and organizations. And he explains how God’s loving redemption includes the process of undoing much of that devastation.

Smart Money is practical. Kesler has led dozens of small group discussions in both church and secular settings. Every chapter ends with useful questions for group exploration.

Smart Money is balanced. On the dangers of debt, for example, Kesler doesn’t gloss over the pitfalls. But neither does he pretend glibly that getting out of debt will solve all of life’s problems.

Smart Money stresses the importance of concern for the poor. Kesler is careful to draw the distinction between proper self-interest on the one hand and selfish greed on the other.

Smart Money is sensible. It refrains from suggesting impossible or unlikely goals and techniques.

Smart Money is positive. It is hopeful and optimistic in tone. Kesler steers clear of gloom and doom.

But aren’t there already plenty of other books out there on this subject? OK. Show me another that hits on all six of these cylinders.

So why devote a whole week’s column to just one book? Why not leave Smart Money to WORLD’s review section?

Aha! Did you already forget that everybody has money problems? I doubt if there’s a person reading WORLD this week whose financial well-being wouldn’t be enhanced by exposure to Smart Money.

Smart Money would have benefited from the services of a good editor before its early manuscript went off to the printer. A book this good deserved that additional attention.

And because it was self-published, Smart Money isn’t available through bookstores anywhere. Your best bet is to go online to the author’s website (smartmoneywithpurpose.com) or to order it through Amazon’s distribution services. Kesler even offers a free monthly newsletter (through his website) to those who buy the book.

A counselor who quotes thoughtfully from sources like Cotton Mather and Max Lucado, from the New Yorker, the Westminster Confession, and the Mises Daily has obviously done some careful thinking and some cross-checking. Smart Money is exceptional because of the way it combines theory with practice.

If a few thousand readers were to strengthen that link between their understanding of money and their day-to-day performance, God’s kingdom would be fortified in a most helpful manner.

Email jbelz@wng.org