The Wall Street Journal is reporting that “Warren Buffett is stepping down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the $1 trillion conglomerate that he led for more than six decades.” He announced the news to investors on Friday, stating that he will remain on the board and become chairman emeritus. His son Howard will succeed him as chairman per a previous arrangement.

Buffett stepped down as CEO at the end of last year. He explained his latest move to shareholders:

Serving as your Chairman has been the privilege of a lifetime, and I have never taken your trust for granted. Father Time always wins. He has, however, been generous with me. The company is in excellent hands, and I look forward to remaining a shareholder alongside you.

It’s easy to understand the esteem in which many hold him: his company’s shares have appreciated by 3,999,494 percent since he took over the company. If you had invested $1,000 with him in 1970, it would be worth roughly $19.6 million today.

Of course, no one thinks of Buffett as a divine figure. I’ve not seen any churches or altars dedicated to his worship or claims that he possesses all knowledge and all power.

However, one could make a case that, for many, Buffett has functioned in a manner very similar to how they understand God’s role in their lives. Consider:

• His annual letters to his shareholders are eagerly anticipated and carefully read and parsed for their wisdom.
• The vast majority of his shareholders do not understand the markets as he does and trust his wisdom over their finite knowledge.
• His work in multiplying their investment is akin to magic or the miraculous, turning their money into something far more than they could have made it themselves.
• His influence extends beyond his company and shareholders to the broader economy and culture. As the “Oracle of Omaha,” his wisdom is sought and heard on a variety of issues transcending his financial acumen.

Is this not how many Americans relate to the Lord of the universe?

Four wrong ways to relate to God

Consider each of my points above in turn.

Like Buffett’s annual letters, many read and study the Bible. However, like Buffett’s letters, they make their own determination as to what parts of Scripture they will trust and obey, and what parts they will not. Thus, it is common today to find self-professed Christians who claim that there are many roads to heaven (vs. John 14:6), that abortion and euthanasia are acceptable moral choices (vs. Psalm 139:13–16), that homosexual and even polygamous marriage are acceptable (vs. Genesis 2:18), and so on.

Like those who trust Buffett’s wisdom over their own, many Americans seek God’s wisdom as wiser than their own. However, conventional wisdom and popular opinion play an outsized role in their decisions as well. They believe that when they choose against God’s word and will, they can always confess their sin later and be forgiven without consequence.

Like those who view Buffett’s investment brilliance as akin to magic or the miraculous, many in America view God’s work in the world as miraculous yet also transactional. Investors trust money to Buffett as a means to their ends, understandably seeking their welfare over his personal glory. Many do the same with the Lord, praying and reading Scripture and otherwise serving him so he will serve them, giving him what he wants so he will give them what they want.

Like those who seek Buffett’s wisdom on a variety of topics, many consult God for his advice on the issues they face. However, they often do so only when they must, when all other sources of advice have been exhausted, and with the knowledge that the final decision regarding their choices is theirs.

“Live a life God is able to bless”

How is such transactional religion working for us?

My wife has taught for many years the mantra: “Live a life God is able to bless.” Not just one that he “can” bless, but one that he is “able” to bless. Her logic is persuasive:

• “God is love” (1 John 4:8), so his character requires him to do what is best.
• He is omniscient, so he always knows what is best.
• He is omnipotent, so he can always do what is best.
• However, he cannot bless that which harms his children and the world. Thus, he cannot bless our sins or even our transactional religion.
• When we make him our Lord and not just our adviser, we position ourselves to be led fully by him for his glory and thus for our best as well. As the saying goes, God always gives the best to those who leave the choice with him.

Here we encounter a conundrum: We are to love and serve God for his sake and for his glory, not our own. However, the more we do so, the more he is able to bless our worship and service. The key is with our intention: Are we reading Scripture (and even this article) so we can know the Lord and serve him more effectively as an end unto itself, or so we can know and serve him so he can serve us?

It’s a matter of the heart more than the head, and a question I must ask myself with every word I write and speak. Even now, I must wrestle with it: Am I writing this article to impress you or to honor Jesus? To show my knowledge or to lead to his? To be a kind of Warren Buffett in your life, or to help you know Jesus and make him known?

Reading Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest today, I found this statement: “By regeneration the Son of God is formed in us, and in our physical life he has the same setting that he had on earth.” Christianity is not about serving Jesus so he will serve me—it is about being so yielded to his Spirit that he can serve the world through me.

Would Jesus say he is your adviser or your Lord today?

 

 

Denison Forum