Every day, people around the world go to work. Some work just to survive. Others are trying to accumulate wealth.

To most, the term “wealth” or “riches” means tangible physical assets. But is wealth more than money or tangible assets?

From a biblical worldview, true wealth or riches must be defined by Scripture. One text to help understand the biblical view of wealth is Luke 16:11. In this verse, the term "worldly wealth" is contrasted against “true riches.” If worldly wealth refers to tangible physical assets, then true riches must refer to intangible assets. The word translated true means that which is genuine. Therefore intangible assets are genuine assets. This suggests that, at least in part, tangible assets are not genuine assets.

In what sense are tangible assets not genuine? Perhaps Scripture is referring to the reality that tangible assets have value only in this temporal existence. They do not transcend physical reality into eternal reality. We cannot take any tangible assets with us when we die (1 Timothy 6:7). But true riches have eternal significance; they transcend this existence (1 Corinthians 3:11–15).

Scripture provides illustrations of true wealth or riches. A few examples are:

The common characteristic of all true wealth is that it is aligned with the will and ways of God.

Notwithstanding the temporal nature of tangible assets, they are still important. They have significance as training tools to prepare us to properly steward true riches.

Clearly, one of the ways that we wisely steward tangible assets is to trade-up. Use money and other tangible assets as tools to help others and ourselves acquire true riches.

Here is your business tip. Tangible assets are not true wealth. True wealth or riches are defined by Scripture in terms of alignment with the will and ways of God. We should therefore use money and other tangible assets as tools to align with God, in other words, as tools of obedience to God. As such, tangible wealth should be used to trade-up to gain true wealth. This should be the philosophy of stewardship for individuals and for organizations. Living according to this philosophy enables individuals and organizations to accumulate wealth that has eternal significance.

Organizational leaders should invest in helping people find God’s purpose for their lives and then seek to utilize people congruent with God’s purpose. Helping people align with the will of God for their lives is one of the best uses of tangible physical assets. Furthermore, tangible physical assets should be used by management to invest in the growth and maturity of everyone in the organization. As individuals align with the ways of God (true wealth), the organization will deliver increasingly outstanding products and services.