Understanding the Times: Why Christians Must Be Financially Informed in a Changing World

Of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, 200 chiefs, and all their kinsmen under their command. (1 Chronicles 12:32, English Standard Version [ESV]).

1 Chronicles 12 records a moment of massive national transition. Following the crisis and power vacuum left by King Saul's death, the fractured tribes of Israel unified at Hebron to crown David as their new king. Among the twelve tribes, one group stood apart — not for their military strength or their numbers, but for something rarer: wisdom. The sons of Issachar were men "who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do" (1 Chronicles 12:32, ESV).

In a moment of national transition, their clarity was a gift to an entire nation. We live in such a moment. The world's financial architecture is undergoing changes more profound than most people realize, and the people of God are not exempt from the need to understand them.

This is not a call to anxiety. It is a call to wisdom.

We Are in the World — and the World Is Changing

The global financial system is in the middle of a fundamental restructuring. The United States government has begun treating Bitcoin not as a speculative curiosity but as a strategic national asset. As of this writing, President Trump has signed an executive order establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a broader U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile, directing the government to hold — not sell — confiscated Bitcoin as a long-term reserve asset (The White House, 2025). Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate has advanced the GENIUS Act, a landmark legislation that would create a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins — digital currencies pegged to the U.S. dollar (U.S. Senate, 2025). And institutions like BlackRock and JPMorgan are not watching from the sidelines; they are tokenizing real-world assets — stocks, bonds, real estate — on blockchain infrastructure, with BlackRock's BUIDL fund representing one of the first major institutional moves in this direction. These developments reflect what digital economists have anticipated for years: that Bitcoin and decentralized infrastructure would eventually force a reckoning with the assumptions underlying traditional central banking.

In the World, Not of It

Jesus prayed for His disciples: "I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one" (John 17:15, ESV). We are not called to monastic withdrawal. We are called to faithful presence — to live, work, give, and steward within the very world Christ came to redeem.

This has profound implications. When the Bible instructs believers to be "faithful in a very little" before being entrusted with "much" (Luke 16:10, ESV), it is speaking of money — the currency of the earthly city. Faithfulness with money requires understanding money. When Proverbs says that "the prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it" (Proverbs 22:3, ESV), it assumes that the prudent person is paying attention. Spiritual faithfulness and informed awareness are not in tension; they belong together.

John Calvin understood this. In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, he argued that Christians are not to despise the earthly gifts of knowledge, wisdom, and skill that God has distributed throughout humanity by common grace (Calvin, 1559/1960). To refuse to engage wisely with the world's structures is not piety — it is negligence.

The Danger of the Uninformed Mind

There is a quiet but powerful form of bondage that does not look like enslavement at first. It is the bondage of the person who, because they have not understood what is happening around them, finds themselves shaped entirely by forces they never chose and never examined. An uninformed mind does not float freely above the world — it is carried along by it.

The Apostle Paul's warning to "not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind" (Romans 12:2, ESV) assumes an active, engaged intellect. Transformation is not passive. It requires knowing what you are not conforming to. A Christian who does not understand how their savings can be eroded by inflation, or how a digital dollar might function differently from a paper one, is not free from the financial order. They are simply uninformed about it.

Abraham Kuyper, the Dutch Reformed theologian and statesman, famously declared that "there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'" (as cited in Bratt, 1998, p. 488). That claim includes the domain of money, markets, and monetary policy. If Christ is Lord over it, His people ought to understand it.

Engagement Without Entanglement

That claim is a burden as much as a privilege — which is precisely why pastoral care is essential here, because the danger runs in two directions.

The first danger is ignorance — being swept along by financial changes without discernment. The second danger is absorption — becoming so preoccupied with financial systems that our security, identity, and hope quietly migrate from God to our portfolio.

Jesus did not merely warn against poverty. He warned that "you cannot serve God and money" (Matthew 6:24, ESV). Tim Keller observed that money is one of the most powerful "counterfeit gods" precisely because it promises what only God can provide: security, significance, and freedom (Keller & Alsdorf, 2012). The goal, then, is not to become a crypto enthusiast or a financial prophet. The goal is to be like the sons of Issachar — understanding the times well enough to know what to do, all while remaining grounded in the One who holds both the times and our lives in His hands.

Wayne Grudem helpfully reminds us that work, trade, and financial stewardship are not unfortunate necessities in a fallen world but reflect something good and God-given in creation itself (Grudem, 2003). To steward well, we must understand well.

A Pastoral Word

If you are a follower of Christ, you do not need to master blockchain technology or trade Bitcoin to be a faithful person. But you do need to be awake to the world your neighbors, your children, and your church members are navigating. You need to understand why the U.S. government is stockpiling digital assets, what it means when stablecoins start functioning as everyday currency in nations that have lost trust in their own money, and why the tokenization of assets could reshape how ordinary people own and transfer wealth.

Being informed is not the same as being anxious. Being aware is not the same as being entangled. Our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20, ESV). But we live out that citizenship in a particular moment, in a particular economy, with neighbors who are vulnerable and with resources that God has entrusted to our care.

The sons of Issachar understood the times. May we understand ours — and bring that understanding back to our congregations, our families, and our callings, as those whose wisdom is finally answerable to God alone.

References

Bratt, J. D. (Ed.). (1998). Abraham Kuyper: A centennial reader. Eerdmans.

Calvin, J. (1960). Institutes of the Christian religion (F. L. Battles, Trans.; 2 vols.). Westminster Press. (Original work published 1559)

Crossway Bibles. (2001). The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Crossway.

Grudem, W. (2003). Business for the glory of God: The Bible's teaching on the moral goodness of business. Crossway.

Keller, T., & Alsdorf, K. L. (2012). Every good endeavor: Connecting your work to God's work. Dutton.

The White House. (2025, March 6). Establishment of the strategic bitcoin reserve and United States digital asset stockpile [Executive order]. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/establishment-of-the-strategic-bitcoin-reserve-and-united-states-digital-asset-stockpile/

U.S. Senate Banking Committee. (2025). Guiding and establishing national innovation for U.S. stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, S. 394, 119th Congress. https://www.banking.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/genius_act_text.pdf