Money Shows What We Love
Few things press on a home like money. Couples argue over it, hide it, worry about it, and sometimes lose their marriages over it. Churches and marriages alike have been ruined by finances and infidelity. Yet the Bible treats money as more than a practical problem. To God it is a window into the heart.
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”MATTHEW 6:21 · KJV
How I handle what God has entrusted to me shows what I really value. You do not have to be rich to love money. A family with very little can be as gripped by it as a family with a great deal. Jesus said plainly, Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24). Mammon means wealth treated as a master.
Scripture also keeps us from the opposite mistake. Being rich is no sin, and enjoying God's blessings is no sin. Paul says that God giveth us richly all things to enjoy (1 Timothy 6:17). It is fine to have nice things. It is sin to make your nice things your treasure. The Christian family is called to something better than either greed or guilt: faithful stewardship and a contented heart.
God owns it, and we manage it for Him. A family that settles that question has already settled most of the others.
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For Deeper Study
- The Total Money MakeoverAmazon Dave RamseyA practical plan for budgeting and getting out of debt. Ramsey urges the ten percent tithe; see this study for how we understand it.
- The Treasure PrincipleAmazon Randy AlcornA very short book on why giving brings joy and lays up treasure in heaven. Evangelical.
- Money, Possessions, and EternityAmazon Randy AlcornA much fuller treatment of what the Bible says on money, debt, and giving. Evangelical.
- Your Money CountsAmazon Howard DaytonA short, verse-based guide to earning, spending, saving, and debt. Evangelical.
- Neither Poverty nor RichesAmazon Craig L. BlombergA careful biblical theology of possessions for readers who want to go deeper. Evangelical and scholarly.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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Biblical Giving
Christians give regularly, proportionately, and cheerfully as worship to the God who gave His Son, trusting Him to provide and to bless generosity according to His wisdom.
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