MONEY

What is a proper perspective toward money?

MATTHEW 6:21   Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

The Bible mentions many wealthy people who loved God while saying nothing negative about the amount of wealth they owned (Abraham, David, Joseph of Arimathea, Lydia). Scripture doesn't focus on how much money you can or cannot have, but rather on what you do with it. Jesus made one thing clear: Wherever your money goes, your heart will follow after it. So work hard and succeed without guilt, but make sure to work just as hard at finding ways to please God with money.

PSALM 23:1   The LORD is my shepherd: I have all that I need. 

ECCLESIASTES 5:10   Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness.

Money can cultivate a dangerous craving the more you have, the more you want. It is a vicious cycle that never has a satisfactory conclusion. Keep reminding yourself that God must be first in your life and that money cannot satisfy your deepest needs.

MATTHEW 6:10   No one can serve two masters...You cannot serve both God and money.

1 TIMOTHY 6:10   The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

HEBREWS 13:5   Don't love money; be satisfied with what you have.

Money is not the root of all evil; the love of it is!

PROVERBS 19:1   Better to be poor and honest than to be dishonest and a fool.

MARK 8:36   What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?

No amount of money is worth having if it was gained deceptively or dishonestly. Taking advantage of others to make money is stealing. Those who do this lose far more than they could ever gain.

1 JOHN 3:17   If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother and sister in need but shows compassion how can God's love be in that person?

When your giving meets needs in the lives of others, you will find much deeper satisfaction than if you had spent the money on yourself or kept it.

MALACHI 3:10   "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my temple. If you do. "says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. "I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!"

Instead of viewing money as yours to use as you wish, see it as God's to use as he wishes. Giving back to God the first part of everything you receive will help you maintain this perspective.

Is debt a sin?

MATTHEW 18:23    Jesus said, "The Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him"

In teaching on forgiveness, Jesus used this parable that seems to assume the lending or borrowing of money is not itself sinful.

PROVERBS 22:7   Just as the rich rule the poor, so the borrower is servant to the lender.

Although borrowing money is not, in itself, sinful, you must be careful and wise when you borrow so you don't become a slave to debt.

ROMANS 13:8   Owe nothing to anyone except for your obligation to love one another.

Although incurring debt may not be sinful, the failure to repay a debt is.

Promise from God  MATTHEW 6:31-33   Don't worry about these things, saying, "What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?... Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.