The Issue of Faith and Riches

The Issue of Faith and Riches

How do we understand the relationship between the two?

Lidio Vargas Riguelme has been a pastor of the Seventh-day Adventist Church for almost 22 years. He spent eight years as a missionary in Manaus-Amazons, Brazil, and the rest of the time in Paraguay. He is currently working as a chaplain at the Adventist hospital in south Paraguay. His job includes public relations for the institution.

Lidio graduated in 1977 from the Universidad Adventista del Plata with a degree in theology. He received his Master's in Public Health at the Universidad Adventista de Chile in 1996.

He is married to Gloria Samaneigo. She is the principal of the Adventist school in Hohenatt. They have three sons who are attending the University of Brazil.

Lidio loves to read, write, and sing. Many of his articles are published in Spanish and Portuguese in Adventist magazines. His favorite sport is basketball.

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The guests sat around the table for dinner. The hostess, the pastor's wife, served rice, beans, and a little corn flour. When she started serving the food, she excused the watered-down soup. "I am sorry," she said, "the soup is so watered down, but you know, with our salary being so little, we have to live by faith. Isn't that right?"

I silently asked myself, "Does living by faith mean one must eat watered-down soup? Does it mean shoes must be worn until the soles are all worn out? Does it mean we have to wear old and clumsy clothes to give an appearance of humility? Does it mean we'll own a `Pentecostal' car that preaches with loud noises in every corner