What should we do with our Money?

I have had many people asked me the question, “what should we do with our money?” Remember, money is not evil as some would make you believe, it is just a tool. The love of money is the root of all evil. First, the Bible tell us several things to do with our money. Interestingly, none of them has to do with selfish motivations or fulfilling our own desires. Instead, they all deal in some fashion with helping and caring for others.

For example, 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 expounds the law of sowing and reaping, encouraging believers to give bountifully and cheerfully. This passage makes it clear that God causes his grace to abound so that we may have the means to do good deeds on behalf of others: “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.” (verse 10)

Ephesians 4:28 has a similar purpose. It is about your work and wealth. That is to help those in need: “He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.”

One of the times when Jesus healed a cripple at the Temple who was begging for money all his life, he first asked him, “Do you really want to be healed?” What Jesus was asking was, ‘once I heal you, you now have the responsibilities that come with it. Taking care of yourself, and thus should no longer beg.’ There are some people who would rather live in pain than to take responsibility. That is why so many people are afraid of the change coming to our Nation. With this change comes individual responsibility and I see fear in so many people who have never stepped up to it and have begged all their lives.

Giving

In Matthew 25, immediately after the parable about investing, Jesus teaches another lesson on Giving. This is a quick story of the separating of the goats and the sheep. In this story, tells when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and goats on his left. The king will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirst and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger ans you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we do these things.”

The King will reply, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

The story is the opposite for those standing to the kings left. He will tell them, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

When we give, we expect to return on our charity. Let it be done in secret, and we will be rewarded. If we do are giving for the site of man, then we have already received are reward.

Caring For our Families and Others

We are to take care of our families. I am a husband and a father. My first duty second to God, is to my wife, and then my children. Paul makes this very clear in his letter to Timothy. He writes, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (1 Timothy 5:8). In a second letter, Paul makes the statement that “children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children” (2 Corinthians 12:14)

It is honorable to care for our families. For example, my youngest is three and my oldest is seven. I already have their fund set up for them. I want them to be cared for, yet I still teach them responsibility. If I just give them a “silver spoon”, they will learn nothing. I learned my discipline as a youth. I was one of nine kids. I work hard and personally paid for every school trip, band trip, and college on my own. It taught me well, but I would rather teach my children though my lesson, rather than the years of experience. Time is more precious.

Lending

We are asked to give to those in need, yet their is another type of charity. This is Lending or borrowing. This can sometimes be harder than giving for people. We should be open to this, even to the point of lending with no expectation of payback. “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” (Matthew 5:42)

Anything thing that can be hard, is in situations were the person is an enemy, or the distrust the person. Still help them. Do did your honor to the Lord,their actions are now theirs. I do agree with the “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” What I mean by this is don’t let someone take advantage of you.

Tithing

One can’t be around the church without hearing about tithing. It is the practice of giving to God the first 10 percent of our earnings. The purpose of the tithe was twofold: to place God in the forefront of people’s daily lives and make sure that nobody lacked for food.

The first belongs to God. We find this principle all through the Bible. We can give God the first of our time. We can give him the first of our finances. This is what tithing really is. Giving first. It requires faith.

Investing

In the parable of the talents, Matthew 25:14-30. we learn the importance of putting money to good use. In this story, three servants are entrusted with unequal amounts of the master’s wealth while he is gone on a long journey. Two of them work to increase the amount they had, while the third dug a hole and hid the money out of fear. The first two, who increased their master’s wealth, are rewarded with praise and even entrusted with greater amount of the masters property. The third who return the money without investing it, was berated for his laziness and cast out. Even the little he had was taking away.

Jesus left what we need to prosper here on earth, but he did not apportion things equally. One very important lesson is when other accumulate material gain, we must not become jealous. We must rejoice in their success and pray that their focus will remain on God’s will. Remember, our wealth is not our own – it is the Lord’s.

One Reason I love the type of business I am in, is the system I use puts many of these principles together. I must invest in my business and help others before I can see any fruit of my labors. The more people I help reach their goals, I will later benefit. I must first put my faith into service of others. I serve others through my own business.

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I will leave you with this. “He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich – both come to poverty.” (Proverbs 22:16)