Augustine of Hippo: MakeSure Riches Won't BeBad For You

You may say, I suppose, “So were riches no good to the person who used them well by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, welcoming strangers, redeeming captives?” People who do all that are acting in such a way that riches won’t be bad for them. I mean, what if they didn’t have that amount of wealth to do all this with, and yet were the sort of people who would do it if they had?

God doesn’t pay any attention to the vast extent of people’s means, but to the kind intent of people’s wills. The apostles weren’t rich, were they? All they left was their nets and boat to follow the Lord. You have given up a great deal when you have given up your hopes in the world, like that widow and her two farthings, which she put in the treasury. No one, He said, gave more than she did; and many people who were rich gave much; they didn’t give more than this widow into the gifts of God, that is into the treasury.

Many rich people were putting in large amounts, and he was observing — not the amounts they were putting in, though. Then she came in with her two farthings. Who would bother to give her so much as a glance? Well, He gave her a glance, the one who observed the fullness of the heart, not the hand. He not only observed her, He pointed her out; in pointing her out He said nobody put in as much as she did.

Nobody, after all, put in as much as she who left herself absolutely nothing.  So if you only have a little, you will give a little; if you have more, you will give more. And yet, when you give a little from the little you have, does this mean you will get less or receive less, because you have given less? If we are going to examine what is given, there will be large amounts and small amounts, big sums and little sums.

But if we examine the hearts of the people it’s given by, we will sometimes find a meager, needy little heart in the big sums, a big, wealthy, lavish heart in the little ones. Yes, you observe the large amounts given, and you don’t observe how much the person who has given much has left for himself, how much, finally, he has spent on charity, how much he has grabbed of other people’s property, and then gives some of that to the poor, as though he would grease the palm of the divine judge’s hand.

So then, what you are doing by giving is making sure that riches won’t be bad for you, not that they will be good for you.”

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) in Essential Sermons, trans. Edmund Hill, ed. Daniel Doyle, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century (New York: New City Press, 2007), Sermon 105A.1.

This is the fourth of seven posts exploring the theme of 'abundance' in the sermons of one of my favorite orators. If these excerpts stir your heart, do download the PDF of this collection of sermons freely here.

Today's post is admittedly long, so I will try to make my comments brief. How can you make sure riches won't be bad for you?

Examine your heart. And focus not so much on how much you give, but how much you do not give and consider what that says about where you place your trust.

The header photo came from my war zone visit to Kherson in 2024.

Ukrainians heap missile pieces into centralized piles—often called "missile cemeteries"—primarily to collect legal evidence for war crimes they have endured.

As the war has dragged on, many people feel hopeless and forgotten. They are waiting. Speaking of waiting, if you have not read the devotional I read with that title, click here to download it freely.

The Ukrainians I visited in 2025 said, "Few people help and no one visits us anymore." In December 2026, since the devotional has been translated into Ukrainian, I plan to share it with Christian workers to multiply hope.

This week I am asking everyone to make a gift - big sum or little sum - to send hope and help to Ukraine this Christmas season.

Click here to go to the CTU global website. Click the blue give button to give and be sure to write "Project: Ukraine" in the "add a note" section.

In the words of Augustine, "what you are doing by giving is making sure that riches won’t be bad for you."