Is It a Sin to Want More? (A Christian's Honest Answer)

Graham Cochrane (0:01)

Welcome to The Graham Cochrane Show, where each week I help you create more money, margin, and meaning in your life.

I'm your host, of course, Graham Cochrane.

Let's get into it.

I wasn't even sure if I was gonna make this episode, and it might get me into some trouble, but I feel like it's something that I need to say, and it's something that we need to unpack. And I'll be honest, right from the beginning, this episode is for my Christian brothers and sisters specifically.

Even more specifically, if you're a business owner or trying to make your way in the world financially, this is for you. If you have ever felt like it is sinful or wrong or greedy or anti-Christian or anti-your faith values to pursue more wealth, more success, more acclaim, more impact, more followers, viewers, whatever it is, if you've ever felt that tension between, I want more, but should I want more? Is it okay to want more? Or should I just be content? Doesn't the Bible say I need to be content? Doesn't the Bible say that greed is bad and that wealth is dangerous and the pursuit of more can get me into trouble? If you have ever felt like you're reading your Bible and you're feeling one thing, but then you read another section of your Bible and you feel another thing, but then you talk to Christians and they tell you one thing, but then your heart feels another thing and you don't feel like it's sinful, you feel like it's godly, but now you're confused because your Christian friends are like, guard your heart, bro. Why aren't you content? If you've ever, ever felt any of these things, this episode is for you. What's interesting is that when I grew up and I became an adult and got into the working world, I never struggled with this idea of just be content with what I have. You know why? Because I didn't have very much and I didn't think I could have any more than I had. I had no vision for what's possible in the world. I just wanted to be a musician. That was my goal is to be a rock star, not to be rich and famous, just to be able to get paid to do what I love to do, which was for my whole life music and performing. I didn't want to sit at a desk. I just wanted to make music. So my expectations for life, although some people might say we're high, oh, you wanted to be a rock star, to me, that was very low. That was the only thing I was good at was music. And I felt I was good enough to get a record deal. And so I pursued it. Long story short, I didn't get a deal worth any money. So I had to get a job and I got married young and life happened. And so the dream fizzled out. But to me, my expectations were actually low. Like that was what I wanted to do for a living because that sounded fun to me. And I didn't expect to make much. If I could just make 30, $40,000 a year, gigging, selling some albums, which shows how old I am now. It's all streams. You don't make money off of music. But if I could just eke out a living as an artist, I'd be a happy man. And that's one reason why I know my wife loves me because she married me then when I was broke and unemployed. Right. So that's all I wanted out of life. It was easy to be content because I didn't want anything else. Yeah, I wanted to have a house of my own. I probably wanted a little bit nicer car because I drove a 10-year-old Dodge Neon. But like, I was fine. I was happy.

I did not struggle with this tension until, go figure, God blessed me with more. I know He blessed me with more because I didn't chase after more. I literally moved a thousand miles away from home, starting a church plant with my friends. My buddy was a pastor, said, I'm going to go plant a church in Tampa, Florida. Do you want to come be my volunteer worship leader? I can't pay you. There's no money in the church yet because it doesn't exist yet. But if you are willing to move down with your wife and get jobs, you could volunteer as the worship leader. And our hope is that it will grow and maybe some people will tie. Then there will be some money that I could take a salary and you could take a salary. And then we could do this together. And I said, sure, I could at least use my music and maybe have a career that way. So we picked up when we left to do God's work, to plant a church. And we did. And we saw a lot of cool things happen. And I was the volunteer worship leader for almost 12 years there. Never got paid to lead worship, never was on staff.