Money and the Bible
[Note: This is a series on the "Principles of Financial Success" based on a seminar presented by Crown Financial Ministries.]
God loves us. And because He cares for us, He gave us guidelines in His Word for handling money in a way that would be best for us and please Him. In fact, the Bible contains more than 2,350 verses dealing with money and possessions. Jesus taught more about money than almost any other subject. The Lord said so much about money and possessions for spiritual reasons and very practical ones.
1. Spiritual Reasons
Money is a primary competitor with Christ for first place in our lives.
As our loving Creator, God understands us perfectly. He knows that people often choose to put possessions ahead of Him. In Matthew 6:24 he tells us, "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. "
It is important to understand that money or possessions are not evil. 1 Timothy 6: l0 says, "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." Money is not evil, but the wrong attitude towards it is. For example, money can be used for good to help people in need or for evil to purchase illicit drugs.
How we handle money affects the intimacy of our fellowship with Christ.
Jesus Christ told us, "If you have not been faithful in the use of worldly wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? (Luke 16:11 NASB). What are the "true riches " in life? The true riches are a close relationship with Christ.
How we handle money is an indicator of our true relationship with Christ. It demonstrates whether we believe in God and obey the principles revealed in the Bible.
2. Practical Reasons
Every day we make decisions about money. The Lord knew we needed His insight to use it wisely. Scripture reveals His principles for working, earning, spending, saving, investing, giving, getting out of debt, and teaching children how to handle money. Everything you need to know about money and possessions is found in the Word of God.
Unfortunately, most of us have not been taught God's way of handling money, so we do it from the world's perspective rather than God's.
Next issue, we'll talk about "God's Responsibilities".
