work Archives - Bare Wealth Advisors

by Ron Bare

This year, we’ve declared a theme: Year of Increase. We believe that God has entrusted each of us with resources, gifts, and talents, and it’s our responsibility to steward and increase them for His glory. Four important components of increase that we are focused on bringing an “increase mindset” to are: vision, work, wealth, and influence. We believe as our mindset in these areas grows (increases) we are fulfilling our God given purpose and capacity to serve those around us.

When we consider bringing an increase to areas of our lives, it’s only natural that work would be one of those areas. Work dominates a significant portion of our lives, and growth in this area is both normal and expected. Whether your business expands, you receive a promotion, or you acquire a new property, it is likely that you will experience growth within your work. Believe it or not, the Bible has a lot to say about work, this thing that we spend so many years of our lives doing!

Even God worked as He created the world. In Genesis, God describes His work as ‘good’ seven times. God’s greatest work was creating man and woman, in His image. When we consider that God worked, it should be no surprise that work is also a major part of our lives. In Genesis 2:15, God gives Adam and Eve this direction to work: “Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.”

These instructions to “cultivate and keep” the garden assume that there is something to be done, or kept up with, or improved. The direction to “cultivate” insinuates development. It suggests that Adam and Eve should spend time discovering the potential of the land and the resources they were given, and bring forth abundance! This direction is not only for Adam and Eve, but for all of humanity. How do we view our own work? Do we consider the potential that our work has and what it could become? What is our vision for the work that we do? God encourages Adam and Eve not to just simply get by and live passively in the garden, but to actively invest in their resources and improve what they were given. Though this can feel like a strong, challenging command, it’s a gift that God allows us to create and improve what He has made. Creation is what God made out of nothing, but culture is what humans get to make out of God’s good creation.

Now, it’s not all so simple. The fall of man has made all of this just a little bit trickier. Because of the fall, work is hard and frustrating at times for many of us. When we dedicate years of our life to work and it becomes difficult, our goal becomes saving enough so that we will be able to stop working, or retire. Though retirement from a job or full time work may be appropriate, working for a lifetime with the sole purpose of retiring is not biblical.

Instead, work should be a blessing! Through our work, we get to join in partnership with God to create and improve the earth. We get to influence culture to see God’s good creation through the goods and services we provide. What a gift! The way that we view work should, and likely will change as we get older. However, the challenge is to never stop asking this key question: “What work does God have for me with the gifts, abilities, and experiences He has given to me?” For as long as we have breath, let that be our heart’s cry!

We believe that having an ‘increase’ mindset around work can be so impactful. It allows us to consider what things God has gifted us with and how He might have us use them. Our job is to take what He has given us, improve the earth, produce more goods and services that benefit humanity, and create a culture that brings His kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven.

If you’re interested in more resources relating to this topic, check out these books:

Every Good Endeavor by Tim Keller

Sacredness of Secular Work by Jordan Raynor

Garden City by John Mark Comer

by Ron Bare

Each year at Bare, we choose a theme to focus on that guides us both internally and externally. As we considered the theme for 2025, we chose “year of increase.” At first glance, it may seem practical for a wealth advising firm to have a focus on increase. However, this year is not about increasing wealth for the purpose of becoming wealthy, but rather for the purpose of increasing our influence. Our culture tells us that we will ‘win’ if we can grow our wealth, get the highest rate of return, or show a higher net worth statement at the end of each year. Yet this cultural view falls short of the Biblical view of success, influence and increase.

The Biblical view of bringing an increase to what we have been given draws us to look at two places – the origin of life in Genesis, and a parable in Matthew 25. In these passages, we see that growing and increasing the things God has entrusted to us is an important piece of stewardship. Does this exclusively refer to money? Is bringing an increase in all areas even within our control?

We have found that a great way to explore these questions is to start at the beginning – the very beginning. In Genesis, we see God’s final and most stunning creation: humanity. He created human beings and gave them a few instructions: to multiply, fill the earth, govern the earth, and rule. He gave it all to humans and said, ‘it is yours!’ This can easily be a passing thought, but when we stop to reflect on what God has done, we are reminded of the incredible gift – not just to enjoy creation, but also to steward it! (also read Ps. 8, Gen. 1 and 2, and Matt. 25). I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I’d want to hand over the keys to my creation to someone else!

God has given over His creation to us for the time being, and much like the master in the parable, He will return to see what we have done with it. In the parable in Matthew 25, both servants who increased what had been given to them were praised, while the one who buried it in the ground was punished.

Readers of this story tend to react through one of two extremes, neither of which we ascribe to. One extreme is the reader who believes that God will always bless them exponentially, and that if they just trust Him, wealth is not far behind. The other extreme is the reader who is filled with fear, like the final servant in the parable. This person is afraid of risk and afraid of losing what was given to them, so they do nothing with their assets. This person doesn’t work, invest, or give.

Unlike the person enamored with the prosperity gospel and certainly unlike the fearful servant, we want to focus on increasing our resources for the glory of God, so that we can give, serve, and shape culture. Our tagline at Bare is “Beyond Abundance,” and we believe it helps us carry a vision beyond simply amassing wealth. Instead, it is centered around influencing the world for good. Living “beyond abundance” assumes a confidence in God, acknowledging that He can richly provide for us beyond what we need, so that we can generously share with others. A “beyond abundance” way of living offers freedom and opportunities to live a life of fullness, and to impact the world far beyond what we could do on our own.

In 2025, we will explore together what it means to steward all that God has given to us to carry out these instructions. Stewardship is first an understanding that we are not the owners but rather the managers of what we have (earth, wealth, time, talents, etc.) and secondarily an understanding of the responsibilities that come from the owner (God). We will focus on four key areas this year – our vision, our work, our wealth, and our influence. Join us as we consider how intentional stewardship and extravagant generosity can impact the world to be just as it was originally intended – an environment where humans can flourish.

Tag: work

Bringing an “Increase” Mindset to Our Work

Exploring Biblical “Increase” in 2025