Over the last few months, my family has been discussing personal and global finances ad nauseum.
From the failing economy, and the rise in consumer debt, to the high rate of unemployment (which we personally dealt with last year), there’s understandably cause for concern. Yet even though these specific issues have sparked our family’s desire to solidify tangeable financial goals for the year, we turn to the scripture as our authority for financial decisions.
With over 800 scriptures about money, God’s wisdom regarding these topics remain increasingly relevant and opens our eyes to his view on finances.
For many of you, the first credit card statement since Christmas has just come through the mail. Emotions may have dictated impulse purchasing decision, and you realize that new goals and commitments need to be examined for 2011.
Digging into scriptures about money may be daunting, but here are a few verses that I considered while I was setting financial goals for the year. Knowing the Lord has entrusted us to be wise financial stewards of what we have been given, is a monumental task, but as I dig in and further understand what it means, He kindly walks us through it with His word.
Contentment – Viewing all aspects in terms of where I stand in God’s economy is my desire. Ultimately, God is the owner of everything and we are just his stewards, so being content in anything he brings our way or doesn’t bring our way must be filtered through that sphere.
Philippians 4:11-13: For I have learned to be content, whatever the circumstances may be. I know now how to live when things are difficult and I know how to live when things are prosperous. In general and in particular I have learned the secret of eating well or going hungry of facing either plenty of poverty. I am ready for anything through the strength of the One who lives within me.
Generosity – Whether with my time, resources, or creativity, I am convinced we can never out give God. HE always provides and returns it in ways I could never imagine.
Deuteronomy 16:17: Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you.
Needs vs. Wants – I spent a lot of time during our unemployment pondering what our true needs consisted of in terms of God’s economy. Realizing that needs are often confused with wants, it’s amazing how simple life can be when we peel back the layers and enjoy simplicity.
Philippians 4:19: And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Lending – Over the past years, I have had to work through the truth of this scripture.Having loaned money multiple times without receiving it back, I now understand that when I give, I have to give with hands wide open. To harbor anger over unpaid debts leads to bitterness and sin. Then the heart of generosity with which it was given has been given over to Satan’s goal.
Luke 6:35: But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.
Debt – So, the opposite of lending would be accumulating debt. Is there any such thing as “Good debt?” That’s a question each person needs to wrestle with personally. Living a completely debt free life is our goal. Mapping out baby steps, a time line, and ways to accomplish this, including paying off our mortgage, is what we are working on now.
Proverbs 22:7
The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.
Romans 13:8
Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
Here are the varying translations of the first portion of this passage. Owe no man any thing (KJV). Let no debt remain outstanding (NIV). Pay all your debts (TLB). Owe nothing to anyone (NASB). Keep out of debt and own no man anything (Amplified).
Preparedness – Without being fanatical, our family sees the importance of being prepared for many circumstances.
Proverbs 15:22
Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors they succeed.
Proverbs 13:16 A wise man thinks ahead; a fool doesn’t, and even brags about it!
Quick Riches – It’s tempting to wonder what it would be like to have an investment skyrocket or “win the lottery”, but waiting patiently on Him stabilizes the contentment and simplicity that I desire.
Proverbs 21:5: The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, but everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty.
Proverbs 23:4: Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, cease from your consideration of it.
Enjoy digging into His word more deeply on these topics, since I just scratched the surface. I’d love to hear some of your financial goals for the new year. Would you care to encourage all of us and share them in the comments?
Leave a Comment
Laryssa @Heaven In The Home says
Oh Jen! I so needed this! We are in the process of examining every area of our lives…especially our finances. Thank you for this encouragement.
Jen (Balancing Beauty and Bedlam) says
You are so welcome, Laryssa!
There are more scriptures relating to finances than any other topic in the Bible. I think He cares just a bit that we get that aspect in order, but it’s challenging , for sure.
Dawn Camp says
One very simple goal we have is to always hold back our church donations when my husband gets paid, so that there’s never a risk of coming up short on Sunday.
Jen (Balancing Beauty and Bedlam) says
Dawn – that is such great wisdom. For many, it’s so easy to “short change” the Lord when times are tough. I know He is blessing you so much with that decision.
Mel @ Trailing After God says
Very solid biblical points. We’re working on all of these things too. It can be very daunting and overwhelming. One day at a time 🙂
Blessings,
Mel
Please feel free to stop by: Trailing After God
Jen (Balancing Beauty and Bedlam) says
Absolutely, Mel.
You are so right. One day at a time. It’s all about those baby steps, but you’ll be surprised at how quickly those baby steps will take off.
Kari says
Thank you so much for this encouragement!! Truly managing our finances – being good stewards of what God has blessed us with…IS a spiritual issue! Our main financial goal this year is to pay off our credit card!!! We are learning to live within our means, it’s a hard lesson to learn but thank the Lord for His Patience with us!! 🙂
Jen (Balancing Beauty and Bedlam) says
Kari – I will be cheering you on. You can do it!
Leigh says
I have 2 words…..DAVE….RAMSEY…..
Took us less than 2 years and we paid off about $50,000.00 of debt. Yes all those zeros are correct! Grocery bill was slim, no eating out, not a very big Christmas during that time or big birthdays (we have 4 kids), but God always provided and we made it thru.
Jen (Balancing Beauty and Bedlam) says
YEA! Good for you! I highly recommend Dave Ramsey to anyone trying to get out of debt. Being debt free releases so much additional stress….thrilled for you. 🙂
Angie says
My husband and I have just recently started our Total Money Makeover (Dave Ramsey). Last year, we had used part of our tax refund to pay off most of our debt and we did it again this year. We are now completely out of debt, own our 3 vehicles straight-up. We are now saving for our trip out to Quebec this summer to meet our new niece who will be born anytime within the next couple weeks and also getting our 6-month savings in the bank so we can start investing. Last week we finished putting together our $1000 emergency fund…it’s so nice to know that we have that in the bank! I feel like I can finally really start dreaming about building our own house in a few years.
Ashley says
Thank you so much Jennifer!! This subject has been weighing heavy on my heart lately. I do have “what if we will the lottery” moments…all too often I’m afraid. And there are numerous times I look at something with “need” goggles on instead of realizing they are really just “wants”. I am tired of living this way…and I am definitely tired of debt collectors calling me!! Ha! We have a lot of medical debt from having 4 kiddos, but other than that we just have our car and mortgage. I have been debt free and that feeling is amazing!! Thank you again for this encouraging word.
Rachel says
This is just what I needed to see! We’ve been working towards better financial management, and have made good progress, but every time we reach one goal, it seems we relax and then we lose momentum. It then takes a lot (or a crisis, unfortunately) to get us back in action working towards our goals. Thanks for the encouragement here!
mari says
visiting from Beauty/bedlam. Thank you so much. DH and I have very different ideas on finances and our picture is definitely not good for the age we are (50’s) The stress is sometimes overwhelming, but just reading the scripture eased me up a bit. I know that God is in control…sometimes I forget that
Living the Balanced Life says
We just finished a study in church last month about whether or not we let God be the God of *all* including our wallets and bank accounts. It’s a tough subject, one that many people want to just avoid.
We are in a tight situaion right now, and I am still seeking God’s will for wisdom and direction.
Thanks for this post Jennifer!
Bernice
The world really IS at our fingertips!
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Mrs.B says
This is a great post, one that most people can relate to right now. I don’t think any of us “likes” feeling this economic situation, but I KNOW God can and IS using it for Good in so many ways. I know, in our own family He certainly has.
AMEN to Philippians 4:11-13!
Teri Miller says
Re-did the budget in early January…and haven’t looked at it since.
Ahem.
Yeah, I know better.
Thanks for the reminder.
Teri @ StumblingAroundInTheLight.com
Amy Sullivan says
Financial goals?
-Paying off some lingering medical bills.
-Learning how to lower the grocery budget!
Sue@housepretty says
I just found your blog through Thrifty Decor Chick. It is ironic that I found your blog today, since I just got back from going to the bank and getting our cash for our envelope system for the next two weeks. God bless Dave Ramsey! We just finished the course about one week before Christmas, and it has been one of the best experiences of our married life. We are FINALLY on the same page financially. I learned the first week of the course that my husband had never budgeted before! He had never learned how. He was blessed, or was he?, with a good job right out of tech., which more than covered his expenses, and so he never learned how to be a good steward of His money, and he was never taught that concept in his home growing up. We just finished our baby step one, and another two or three months and baby step two will be taken care of. We are going with gazelle intensity and feel SO invigorated. When I stand before God, and want Him to be able to tell me I have been a faithful servant with what he entrusted to me. I’m adding your blog to my blogroll, check me out sometime if you get the chance.
Holley Gerth says
Love your heart for helping us live fully and use our money wisely!
Virginia says
Thank you so much for this, Jen! It is very timely in my life! It is a challenging time for me, especially since someone illegally stopped paying me $300.00 they owe me every month. That coupled with washing machine breaking, teeth needing expensive repair and…and…it has been a trial I am not used to dealing with.
I still have not processed all that the Lord is trying to tell me through this but certainly needing to differentiate between “needs” and “wants”, as you mention has been one thing. It has also helped me realize how very blessed I am to have any income as I see the very sad unemployment numbers posted every month in our country.
God bless you, sister!
Karen says
God is SO growing me in the area of holding our money with OPEN hands! It has brought incredible freedom to this tightfisted God-girl.
One of the things we started doing was ‘tithing’ off of our tax refund check. The money goes into a separate pot that we use for ministry. The only rule is that we as a family can in no way benefit from it. We use it to buy flowers, books, and a myriad of other things that can bless and help those that God puts in our path. I am finding GREAT joy in giving away God’s money!
Beth Werner Lee says
My husband crunched the numbers and the amount we spent on food was eye opening. He made a budget, cutting our food by 25 or 30% and we found an app called Home Budget to track spending. It\’s too embarrasing to tell you how much our coffee spending was, even the current budget is higher than I am comfortable with, but I am so glad that we came in just over the halfway mark last month. We enter the amount as we spend it, and then can see the amount spent in a graph (pictoral) and the amount left as a number (and it goes red if you go over the budget!). I\’m thankful for the app because it\’s positive and it syncs between us automatically. Finally I feel we are working together. In January I kept hearing the Bible verse, \”Whose God is their stomach, whose glory is in their shame,\” and prayed and prayed that it would not be true of us! Thanking God for his word, for corrective love.
sharon says
Thanks for this TIMELY reminder! lEarning to be content and at peace in everything…..we did Financial Peace University about 10 years ago – SO wish we had done it in the first 5 yrs we were married! But, it is ALWAYS good to be reminded of these principals…..been watching a lot of HGTV lately while my daughter is home sick and it’s made me begin thinking about “how MUCH” I REALLY want to re-do our bathroom….oh, and while we’re at it, let’s extend our bedroom and make it a master suite with our own bathroom…..in a neighborhood where we would really overprice our house and never get it back as an investment….not to mention WE DON”T HAVE THE MONEY for it! Time to turn off HGTV and tune in to God’s Word! Thanks
Gail says
Thanks so much for this – what a perfect time for yet another downsized American family to remember that the riches that are important aren’t those in our wallets. We are working on figuring out living on one income rather than 2 and realizing that a lot of the things we have to cut back on are not true needs.