88 Sermon Illustrations on Finances

Matthew 5:25-26

“Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to

court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may

hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to

the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you the

truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.”

John Pintard, a man of steady habits, made profitable use of his year in debtors’ prison. Locked up beginning in 1797 in a two-story stone jail in Newark, New Jersey, that loomed, like a tombstone, over the town’s burial ground, he walked more than a thousand miles -- 113,984 lengths of the hall -- and read more than a hundred books, from “The National Debt Productive of National Prosperity” to the complete works of Samuel Johnson, including Johnson’s Dictionary, which he digested at a rate of one page every nine minutes, which meant that, between the time he spent pacing like a caged animal and the hours he whiled away drafting letters to his creditors, begging them to forgive his debts, it took him a hundred and fifty-seven days to get from “abacus” to “zootomy.” Reading the Dictionary was a way to mark time, like making hash marks on the wall of a cell with a lump of coal. But it went beyond that. “I am more indebted to him than any other writer,” Pintard wrote of Johnson, aptly. Johnson himself had spent time in debtors’ prison -- twice, once for a debt of five pounds -- and had pointed out the senselessness of it. “We have now imprisoned one generation of debtors after another,” Johnson observed in 1758, “but we do not find that their numbers lessen.”

What’s to be done with people who can’t pay what they owe? Throwing them into prison seems preposterous now; it seemed preposterous then, too. What’s the point, if a man has already handed over to his creditors everything he owns? asked the author of “The Ill Policy and Inhumanity of Imprisoning Insolvent Debtors,” printed in Rhode Island in 1754. “Can his Creditors, with all their Wisdom, have more than All? Will his Imprisonment increase his Estate? Will his Confinement pay or diminish his Debts? or the Punishment of his Body be any Kind of Advantage to them, or to Society?”

It isn’t hard to make the argument against debtors’ prison. But it took more than an argument to abolish the institution, mainly because it was so horrible that it worked, at least as a threat: few things motivate prompt repayment of money owed better than the prospect of a dark, dank dungeon where rats and smallpox thrive while men and women shrink and shrivel and starve and die. (Jailers provided food, bedding, and fuel for felons; debtors were left to fend for themselves.) The British Parliament didn’t ban the imprisonment of debtors until 1869. The practice ended much sooner in the United States. Imprisonment for debt was abolished in New York in 1831; the rest of the country soon followed.

What replaced it, as Harvard Law School’s Bruce Mann reported in “Republic of Debtors,” a landmark study of eighteenth-century financial failure, was something that has become a mainstay of American life: bankruptcy. Under the terms of the first U.S. bankruptcy law, passed in 1800, Pintard’s debts were discharged, his ledger erased, and his past, eventually, forgotten. Other countries have bankruptcy laws, too, of course, but they generally favor creditors; our laws favor debtors, and always have.

We have been bailing ourselves out, in other words, from the beginning. Lately, we’ve been bailing fast and furious, but not as fast as the water’s been rising. Eighty-six hundred Americans filed for bankruptcy in 1946; 191,729 in 1967; and 314,886 in 1980. An even steeper increase in the number of bankrupts since then is usually attributed to relaxed provisions of the 1978 Bankruptcy Code; non-business bankruptcy filings first topped a million in 1996. The 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act made it harder to declare bankruptcy by introducing means testing. In the spike just before that law’s implementation, the number of bankruptcy filings passed two million; the following year, in its aftermath, the number dropped to six hundred thousand, but it’s been creeping back up ever since. There were more than a million filings in 2008. Put another way: in 1946, one in seventeen thousand Americans declared bankruptcy; last year, one in three hundred did. November 2008 saw 5,075 bankruptcy filings daily, a thirty-seven per-cent increase over the same month the year before. In 2009, about one and a half million filings are expected, although if Congress makes it easier for homeowners who file for bankruptcy to avoid foreclosure, that number could climb even higher.

We have discharged one generation of debtors after another, but we do not find that their numbers lessen. We find only that we forget, when times are good, that times were ever bad. The colonies were settled, the nation founded, the country built, by debtors. We’ve forgotten that, too; debtors don’t like to look back. “The present generation is bankrupt of principles and hope, as of property,” Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote. Mostly, though, we’re bankrupt of history.

The state has arbitrated insolvency since antiquity. Under Roman law, the body of a debtor could be cut up and disbursed to his creditors. That probably never happened, but it was common for debtors to end up as slaves. (Debt and slavery, historically -- and conceptually -- are always tangled up together.) In England, statutes decreeing imprisonment for debt date to the thirteenth century. The point wasn’t to lock you up -- as the proverb had it, “A prison pays no debts” -- but to terrify you into paying, to avoid incarceration. Nine times out of ten, that’s just what happened, which is why the practice prevailed in most parts of the early modern world and, in the seventeenth century, travelled, with English common law, to America. A 1641 Massachusetts law known as the “Body of Liberties” closely followed English practice, declaring of the insolvent that “his person may be arrested and imprisoned where he shall be kept at his owne charge, not the platife’s till satisfaction be made.” The logic behind this bring-your-own-mutton-and-peat clause was that you might be hiding your money and, if you weren’t, and were truly broke, your friends and family would pony up to keep you in food and firewood or, better still, to pay your debts. There were no terms: you weren’t sentenced for a month, a year, a decade; you stayed in jail until your creditors were satisfied.

This didn’t work that well in the New World. As many as two out of every three Europeans who came to the colonies were debtors on arrival: they paid for their passage by becoming indentured servants. Early on, labor was so scarce that colonists who fell into debt once they got here paid with work; there was much to be done, and there weren’t many prisons. In 1674, a Massachusetts court ordered Joseph Armitage, who owed John Ruck twenty-two pounds, to serve as Ruck’s servant for seven years. (What relieved the colonies’ labor scarcity and spelled the end of debtor servitude was the rise of the African slave trade.) The colonies were also a good place to go to run away from your debts. Some colonies were, basically, debtors’ asylums. In 1642, Virginia, eager to lure settlers, promised five years’ protection from any debts contracted in the Old World.

This didn’t work that well in the New World. As many as two out of every three Europeans who came to the colonies were debtors on arrival: they paid for their passage by becoming indentured servants. Early on, labor was so scarce that colonists who fell into debt once they got here paid with work; there was much to be done, and there weren’t many prisons. In 1674, a Massachusetts court ordered Joseph Armitage, who owed John Ruck twenty-two pounds, to serve as Ruck’s servant for seven years. (What relieved the colonies’ labor scarcity and spelled the end of debtor servitude was the rise of the African slave trade.) The colonies were also a good place to go to run away from your debts. Some colonies were, basically, debtors’ asylums. In 1642, Virginia, eager to lure settlers, promised five years’ protection from any debts contracted in the Old World.

Nevertheless, before long jails were built, and American creditors proved keen to seize their debtors. Debt might be a crime and, worse, a sin, Cotton Mather preached in a 1716 sermon title “Fair Dealing Between Debtor and Creditor,” but if the colonists, cash poor and on the edge of the world, couldn’t live with it they certainly couldn’t live without it. “Yea, without some DEBT, there could be no TRADE carried on.” Some debt, yeah. The question was, and remains: how much is too much? Of 1,162 debtors committed to debtors’ prison in New York City in 1787 and 1788, 716 owed less than twenty shillings.

Debtors in New York used to be locked up in the attic of City Hall. They would lower shoes, tied to a string, to collect alms from passersby. The city’s poorest debtors sat in darkness, day and night. They had no rooms; they slept on the floor in the ground-floor hall or were shut up in the cellar.

The idea that debt is necessary for trade, and has to be forgiven, is consequent to the rise of a market economy. The idea that debt is wrong and should be punished is a feature of a moral economy. Historians generally argue that the market economy replaced the moral economy sometime between 1700 and 1900. Of course, it’s a lot messier than that, or pundits would not be calling for corporate executives of failed companies to be air-dropped onto Alcatraz. Every major American bankruptcy law has been the product of a financial crisis or a depression -- and was subsequently repealed or watered down when the economy revived. One reason is that we are a voting democracy and debtors always outnumber creditors by a big margin.

Americans like to get rich fast. That this means we go broke fast, too, is something that we become very good at forgetting. We are unfailingly optimistic. After John Pintard was released from debtors’ prison, he made a point not to forget to be pessimistic: “Should prosperity smile, let me never forget the suffering I have endured to serve as a check against presumptuous hopes.” He took away from prison a sense of civic obligation. “We all owe a debt to Society as well as to God,” he wrote in 1816, “and I wish to discharge my share.” One of his projects was the establishment of the first savings bank in the nation. He said his countrymen would have to learn “to plod and earn an honest living, to accumulate by slow degrees.” Americans, Pintard believed, “are like the Indians, who think when Spring comes that there will be no more winter."

There is this common saying that all that glitters is not gold. In searching for gold, people usually come across its counterfeit, called pyrite.

Pyrite glitters like gold and is easier to find, usually in the same region where there are gold deposits. Its discovery can spark hope of becoming a millionaire, but it is short-lived. Sudden disillusionment will set in when a goldsmith reports that it is not gold that has been discovered, but fool’s gold.

We can avoid this agony by learning how to test whether what glitters is real gold or pyrite. One method is to rub your discovery on the rough side of a ceramic tile. If the glittering remains, then you have discovered real gold. But if it leaves a black streak, you have fool’s gold.

This same process should be applied to our beliefs about God, particularly when it comes to seeking prosperity. Some preachers have become New York Times best-selling authors with books assuring that financial and medical blessing is God’s will for every Christian. This reality is possible, they say, for those who speak it into existence and believe.

Be careful not to fall for the glitter that it projects.

As you rub the principles of the prosperity gospel against God’s Word, it quickly becomes black. God never promised that every person who claims to be a Christian would be financially independent if they just adopt prosperity gospel teachings.

When Jesus spoke of “asking, seeking and knocking,” it was in the context of His Kingdom message of trusting God, not the system that the religious leaders were profiting from. Whenever Jesus discussed riches, it carried an eternal perspective. Taking a holistic view of the Scriptures, discussing financial blessing without connecting it to God’s greater Kingdom plan is to teach outside the will of God.

Seek what God is interested in doing in your life. As we get closer to God, we will realize that His desire is to bless according to His purposes and in His time. The focus is God, not cars, promotions, boats or other non-essentials.

God wants to bless your humble prayers. Instead of yearning for earthly riches, ask for heavenly blessings such as wisdom. This is the type of prayer that God honors. It is how King Solomon prayed in 1 Kings 3:9: “So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”

God had given Solomon a blank check for his prayers. He could have asked for more power, more possessions and more pleasure. Instead, Solomon asked for wisdom, which became the noble hallmark of his life.

Praying for wisdom is your best prayer for raising your family, advancing in your career goals, dealing with relationship drama, finding ways to pay the bills, investing your money, getting out of debt or even buying something new like a car. Asking God for wisdom will also serve as that necessary “selfish filter” which we all need.

Focusing on God prospering your soul doesn’t mean you can’t ask Him for needs and even some righteous wants. He desires to provide for His people. The apostle Paul, after encouraging the church at Philippi on contentment, reminded them in their time of poverty to trust and wait on God’s provisions. “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus,” Paul wrote in Philippians 4:19.

If you’re asking with the right heart and the right focus, the Spirit will filter out the nonsense. Pray expecting God to provide but do so without trusting in your own power to “make” or “cause” God to answer. Pray with confidence balanced with humility. This will help you know the difference between false gold and God’s gold for your life.

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Ray Parascando is pastor of Crossroads Church in Staten Island, N.Y.

The President of the United States has enormous influence over the finances of the nation. How have they done with their personal finances? The net worth of the presidents varies widely. George Washington was worth over half a billion in today’s dollars. Several presidents went bankrupt.

2nd President Thomas Jefferson lived beyond his means and was mired in debt at the end of his life.

4th President James Madison was the largest landowner in Orange County, Virginia, and made significant money as secretary of state and president, but he lost money at the end of his life due to the steady financial collapse of his plantation.

5th President James Monroe married into money and made significant income during eight years as president, but entered retirement severely in debt and was forced to sell his large plantation.

7th President Andrew Jackson proclaimed himself the champion of the average man but was actually worth around $119 million in today’s dollars at his peak, yet at the end of his life he held significant debt.

9th President William Harrison married into money and he himself inherited 3,000 acres. He owned a mansion and property in Indiana but died penniless, causing Congress to create a special pension for his widow.

10th President John Tyler inherited a 1,000-acre plantation and his first wife was rich. He became indebted during the Civil War and died poor.

The fortunes of American presidents are tied to the economy in the eras in which they lived. For the first 75 years after Washington’s election, presidents generally made money on land, crops, and commodity speculation. A president who owned hundreds or thousands of acres could lose most or all of his property after a few years of poor crop yields. Wealthy Americans occasionally lost all of their money through land speculation — leveraging the value of one piece of land to buy additional property. Since there was no reliable national banking system and almost no liquidity in the value of private companies, land was the asset likely to provide the greatest yield, if the property yielded enough to support the costs of operating the farm or plantation.

Because there was no central banking system and no commodities regulatory framework, markets were subject to panics.

The panic of 1819 was caused by the deep indebtedness of the federal government and a rapid drop in the price of cotton. The immature banking system was forced to foreclose on many farms. The value of the properties foreclosed upon was often low because land without a landowner meant land without a crop yield.

The panic of 1837 caused a depression that lasted six years. It was triggered by a weak wheat crop, a drop in cotton prices, and a leverage bubble in the value of land created by speculation. These factors caused the US economy to go through a multi-year period of deflation.

The sharp fluctuations in the fortunes of the first 14 presidents were a result of the economic times.

Beginning with Millard Fillmore in 1850, the financial history of the presidency entered a new era. Most presidents were lawyers who spent years in public service. They rarely amassed large fortunes and their incomes were often almost entirely from their salaries. From Fillmore to Garfield, these American presidents were distinctly middle class. These men often retired without the money to support themselves in a fashion anywhere close to the one that they had as president. Buchanan, Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Hayes, and Garfield had almost no net worth at all.

The rise of inherited wealth in the early 20th Century contributed to the fortunes of many presidents, including Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and both of the Bushes. The other significant change to the economy was the advent of large professionally organized corporations. These corporations produced much of the oil, mining, financial, and railroad fortunes amassed at the end of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th. The Kennedys were wealthy because of the financial empire built by Joseph Kennedy. Herbert Hoover made millions of dollars as the owner of mining companies.

The stigma of making money from being a retired president also began to disappear. Calvin Coolidge made a large income from his newspaper column. Gerald Ford, who had almost no money when he was a Congressman made a small fortune from serving on the boards of large companies. Clinton made millions of dollars from writing his autobiography.

Financial woes are far from America’s only ill. Despite our Christian roots, we’re a nation sinking in a myriad of problems. Let’s view a few statistics in light of biblical teaching.

• The U.S. is ranked 131st on the poverty scale, with 12 percent of our population living at or below poverty standards. At least 22 countries, including Syria, Lithuania and Malaysia fare better.

Jesus spoke a great deal about money and material possessions. In Matthew 25:45, He admonished: “Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me either.”

• We have the highest divorce rate in the world, and we’re tied with five other nations at third place in our number of single-parent homes. While God certainly forgives divorce just as He forgives any other sincerely confessed sin, we still have to recognize sin is the root of failed marriage, even when the fault lies only with one party. Speaking of sin, God hasn’t changed His teaching regarding sex outside marriage.

What did Jesus teach? “What God has joined together, man must not separate” (Matthew 19:3). God ordained marriage as a lifetime commitment. Likewise, sexual intimacy is not a frivolous act, but a holy union exclusively between husband and wife.

• Almost half of U.S. pregnancies are “unintended.” Of these, four in 10 are aborted. Overall, 22 percent of all U.S. pregnancies are aborted.

We don’t have to look beyond the Ten Commandments to know God’s stand on abortion: “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13, KJV). Anyone who doubts the validity of life from the very point of conception should read what the Lord proclaims in Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (NIV).

• Would you believe the U.S. even gets the number one spot for vehicular deaths? Sure, we have a lot of cars on our roads, but we also have a lot of drivers who don’t use seatbelts or child safety seats. Many drivers speed, are intoxicated or weave through traffic while talking on cell phones or texting.

God’s Word tells us in Romans 13:1-2: “Everyone must submit to the governing authorities ... So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command.” Unless a law clearly opposes the teachings of the Bible, we are to obey it.

• Last, but by no means least, 63.1 percent of the U.S. population is overweight, including 26.5 percent who are even obese. No other nation runs a close second. Not surprisingly, America ranks 49th in life expectancy, far below others including Canada, Sweden and Japan.

How do these figures relate to the Bible? Ezekiel 16:49 lists Sodom’s sins as “pride, gluttony and laziness” (NLT). Overconsumption in any form goes against Christ’s teaching, and we have become a nation of over-consumers.

Can we change these statistics? “With God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). It’s time to stop blaming others and accept personal responsibility. It’s time to do as Jesus said: Stop looking “at the speck in your brother’s eye” and “first take the log out of” your own (Matthew 7:3,5).

Instead of criticizing what everyone else is doing, let’s examine our own lives. Change begins within.

“Test me, O Lord, and try me; examine my heart and mind” (Psalm 26:2).

Ambrose Bierce, a 19th/20th-century writer, defined “debt” as “an ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slavedriver.”

For anyone who’s ever been in a financial bind because of credit debt, Bierce’s definition rings horribly true. Debt is indeed bondage. And for many Christians, bondage is what they live in every day.

The Barna Group reports that 79 percent of professing Christians are concerned over the personal debt that individual Christians carry and, indeed, for many it is a daily struggle.

There is such a tremendous freedom in living without financial debt that the devil works extremely hard to make sure as many Christians as possible never know this freedom. He wants us to believe that the way to feel good about ourselves is to have the biggest house, or the nicest car or the fanciest jewelry. And the list goes on.

My friend Andrew was once a victim of that thought line. Having landed his first job fresh out of college, he bought a loft apartment in the trendiest part of town. And of course, he had to have the “right” furnishings for such a cool pad, so he literally charged ahead, to the tune of over $20,000.

But a cool guy with a cool loft needed a cool car, so his old beater was traded in for a luxury sports car -- another $50,000 in credit debt. And a cool guy with a cool car had to have cool clothes, too, right? Andrew shopped the most prestigious stores in town and even made the occasional trip to the Big Apple just so he could throw into a conversation, “What, my jacket? I picked it up at Bloomingdale’s.”

All that coolness also meant getting in with the “right” crowd. Andrew dined and danced with the crème de la crème and ran up another $10,000 in credit debt. Within months of creating his new persona, Andrew’s life began snowballing downhill.

“I still remember getting hit with that first late fee,” Andrew recalls. “Money was so tight, I had to skip a different card payment to cover that extra charge. The next month the other card tacked on a late fee. I tried to make sure my mortgage payments went in on time no matter what else got behind, but between the late fees and the jacked-up interest rates because of my slow payments, it was like trying to swim with [a] sack full of boulders.”

So what did Andrew do? He left work one day in his Armani suit and saw his beloved sports car being towed away by the repo guys. He walked the three miles home and emptied out a mailbox full of bills. He fell down on his knees inside his heavily mortgaged abode and begged the Lord to forgive him and help him get out of the hole he’d dug.

And God did. Andrew’s next move required repentance.

“The next thing I did was swallow a whole lot of false pride,” Andrew said. “I went to my parents and asked if I could move back home until I could get my finances straightened out. They acquiesced, but with the stipulation that I had one year to get my act together -- and I knew they meant it.”

Andrew sold his loft and then its furnishings. The appreciation on the loft’s value enabled him to recover his car, which he then sold at a loss, using the loft sales money to clear the rest of that debt. The furniture didn’t bring half of what he owed for it, leaving him with a balance of over $10,000 for furniture other people were now enjoying. Transportation became an old clunker he bought for $1,000.

Andrew joined a group called Debtors Anonymous (www.DebtorsAnonymous.org) where he met a lot of people who had very similar stories to his own. He became more involved in his church.

“It was amazing how quickly I was welcomed at church,” Andrew said, “while at the same time all my old friends started disappearing.”

Even without the loft, car and related expenses, it took the full year for Andrew to pay off his debts. That year he eliminated eating out, new clothing purchases and all entertainment that wasn’t free, and added two things: tithing and brown bag lunches.

Where’s Andrew now? Living in a little fixer upper that will be paid off in less than six years.

“My dad and I made lemonade out of this lemon,” Andrew said, waving a hand at his new cottage. “When I turned my life over to the Lord, my priorities changed. What’s ‘cool’ to me now is good gas mileage, low utilities, and above all, my commitment to Christ. He’s taught me what it means to be ‘free indeed’ [Jesus’ words from John 8:36].”

Millions of us have experienced the uncertainty of creating a solid investment portfolio as the stock market rises and falls like a rollercoaster. Individual investors, senior citizens with mutual funds, charitable institutions with endowments, and most people who have a pension plan -- have all suffered from the fragile and fluctuating world economy.

Not even the experts know what to do. “One of the funny things about the stock market,” said the American publisher William Feather, “is that every time one person buys, another person sells, and both think they are astute.”1

It is God who gives us the ability to earn a living and gain wealth (Deuteronomy 8:17-18). The Bible tells us to handle our money as wisely as we can. In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus commended the wise stewards who made good investments of what had been entrusted to them. Proverbs 13:11b (NIV) says, “He who gathers money little by little makes it grow.” That’s why John Wesley famously said, “Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can.”

But the Bible’s fundamental investment strategy has little to do with accumulating money. Jesus Christ wasn’t a stockbroker, but He gave the best investment tip in history when He said: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

No investment advisor has a better plan. We have entire cable channels like Fox Business Network and Bloomberg Television with talking heads who hawk investment advice day and night. The Wall Street Journal has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, and dozens of magazines are devoted to investment strategy and money management.

But Jesus perfectly understood the law of returns when He said in John 6:27a, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life.” Colossians 3:2 says, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” The apostle Paul warned us not to put our hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to be rich in good works, thus laying up a treasure for ourselves as a firm foundation for the coming age (1 Timothy 6:19). We need to take stock of our lives and make sure we’re investing ourselves in eternity.

With the world facing one crisis after another, it’s hard to imagine a safe place to deposit our money. But when we faithfully tithe or devote our resources to the Kingdom, it propels the Gospel to the world. Souls are saved and heaven is populated. When you support your local church, your funds are transmuted into literature, lives, ministries and missions. You may never see the returns till you get to heaven, but what a joy it will be to run into folks on the golden streets and learn that it was your gift that helped bring them to faith in Christ.

But our investments for Christ go beyond money. We also invest our energy and passion into the work, and this investment comes back to bless us even now. It’s perilously easy to become so busy doing what comes next and tackling only those things that seem urgent. But the Bible tells us to give thought to our steps (Proverbs 14:8, NIV). We should begin every day by thinking through our agenda and making time for what is truly important, things that will matter in eternity.

The Bible says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world ... the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17). The investments of this world may crumble, but the time, energy and resources we invest in God’s work are solid investments that will pay dividends throughout eternity.

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1. Charles J. Corrado and Bradford D. Jordan, Fundamentals of Investments (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2004), 214.

David Jeremiah is pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, Calif., and founder and host of “Turning Point for God.”

Why do you think God cares so much about how we handle our money? When have you been on the receiving end of generosity? How can you demonstrate generosity toward others?

If your life were cut up into a pie chart, it might be divided up into a lot of categories: work, home, church, friends and many others. And one piece of your pie would probably be money. That’s okay. Money isn’t evil. It’s a necessary part of living each day on earth. But since it’s a piece of your life, it’s also something God cares about deeply because He cares about everything that makes up who you are. That’s why the Bible has so much to say about money and why we will never be truly alive until we learn to handle money wisely.

Many of Solomon’s proverbs talk about using money wisely, and even Jesus used money stories to teach important lessons. But confusion over the topic continues today. Many, even in the church, think it’s wrong to be wealthy. The truth is, God gives each person what he or she can faithfully handle. Through the years many godly people have done incredible work with the riches God has given them -- things no one else could have done. But they made sure their focus was on the Giver of the gifts, not the gifts themselves. We honor God through the money He’s entrusted to us. That’s the wise and righteous way to approach our money and the only way to avoid the emptiness that comes from using money unwisely.

Solomon taught that wise use of our money and possessions means giving it back to God and using it according to His plans. In Proverbs 11, Solomon again affirmed that God stands against those who lack integrity, especially at the expense of others. He wrote that God finds dishonesty “detestable” (v. 1). He applied this basic principle to the area of money through the use of a contrasting parallel, starting with the negative aspect of dishonest gain and contrasting it with the benefits of financial honesty.

We know people make money in one of two ways: honestly or dishonestly. And they spend money in two ways: wisely or unwisely. Solomon doesn’t pull too many punches in telling believers exactly which choices they should be making. In a world that sometimes approves of cutting corners or “shrewd” business practices, believers serve as lights of integrity for God’s glory. If we can get a handle on this money issue, God has promised to bless us, and so many other areas of our lives will fall into place. When we demonstrate wisdom by handling money honestly, we bring Him delight because we are doing things His way.

Solomon went on to make two things incredibly clear in verse 4: a day of wrath is coming, and none of the riches we accumulate on earth will help us on that day. While money is an important trapping of this world, it means nothing when we enter the next. It can’t guarantee a spot in heaven or provide eternal security. Righteousness is the only currency recognized in heaven! Remember that riches are here today and gone tomorrow.

If God really owns everything -- and we manage His stuff for His honor -- then we have to see money differently than the world sees it. We should never waste our time and energy in an empty, unfulfilling chase for money. We’ve got to use all we have for God’s glory.

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Adapted from the LifeWay YOU curriculum.

* Gardening Rule: When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it was a valuable plant.

* The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.

* Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

* One good turn gets most of the blankets.

* Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

* The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.

* Every morning is the dawn of a new error.

* A conclusion is simply the place where you got tired of thinking.

* It's not hard to meet expenses, they're everywhere.

* Budget: A method for going broke methodically.

*

I hear about a Volunteer Fire Department in Arkansas who drew criticism for letting a house burn down. It seems the owner hadn't paid a twenty-dollar annual fee for fire fighting service. Because of the fire fighters' inaction, two adjacent furniture shops also were destroyed. A resident behind the shops did pay the fee -- while the fire was burning. His house was spared. The Chief told reporters, "Once your house is on fire, you can't join, but if you're a neighbor to some property that's on fire, you can join." When a house would burn down, fire fighters would simply stand by to see that the blaze didn't spread to the homes of people who had paid the twenty-dollar fee.

[Newhouse applies this to stewardship below. I prefer it as an example of preparedness, such as for second coming. Fire theme fits well. -Holwick]

I doubt that many of us would agree with the actions of that fire department, but the truth of the matter is that money controls just about every aspect of our lives. And we need to pay close attention to the blessings God has given us. In fact, some of us need to give more attention to our finances. Some research done some time ago found that the vast majority of people who filed bankruptcy could have avoided it if they just had $5,000 in savings.

We need to be good managers of what God have given us, because it is foolish not to take money seriously.

"But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money," Matthew 25:18.

The Christian worldview reminds us that we must live with the recognition that we will give an account to the Lord for our stewardship of our resources.

Regrettably, many American Christians know little about economics. Furthermore, many Christians assume that the Bible has nothing at all to say about economics. But a biblical worldview actually has a great deal to teach us on economic matters. The meaning of work, the value of labor, and other economic issues are all part of the biblical worldview. At the same time we must recognize that the Christian worldview does not demand or promote a particular economic system.

Because this is the case, Christians must allow the economic principles found in Scripture to shape our thinking while simultaneously recognizing that we can act in light of those principles in any economic, cultural, or generational setting.

1. A Christian economic understanding has God’s glory as its greatest aim.

For Christians, all economic theory begins with an aim to glorify God (1 Corinthians 10:31). We have a transcendent economic authority.

2. A Christian economic understanding respects human dignity.

No matter the belief system, those who work show God’s glory, whether they know it or not. People may believe they are working for their own reasons, but they are actually working out of an impulse that was put into their hearts by the Creator for his glory.

3. A Christian economic understanding respects private property and ownership.

Some economic systems treat the idea of private property as a problem. But Scripture never considers private property as a problem to be solved (see, for instance, the Ten Commandments). Scripture’s view of private property implies it is the reward of someone’s labor and dominion. The Eighth and Tenth Commandments teach us that we have no right to violate the financial rewards of the diligent.

4. A Christian economic understanding takes into full account the power of sin.

Taking the Bible’s teaching on the pervasive effects of sin into full account means that we expect bad things to happen in every economic system. A Christian economic understanding tries to ameliorate the effects of sin.

5. A Christian economic understanding upholds and rewards righteousness.

Every economic and government system comes with embedded incentives. An example of this is the American tax code which incentivizes desired economic behaviors. Whether they work or not is an issue of endless political recalibration. However, in the Christian worldview, that recalibration must continue upholding and rewarding righteousness.

6. A Christian economic understanding rewards initiative, industry and investment.

Initiative, industry and investment are three crucial words for the Christian’s economic and theological vocabulary. Initiative goes beyond action. It is the kind of action that makes a difference. Industry is human work done corporately. Investment is part of the respect for private property found in Scripture.

Investment, as it turns out, is as old as the Garden of Eden. That which accrues value is honorable, and the impulse to accrue that value is honorable. Thus, a Christian economic theory indicts anyone who will not work, not respect private property and not reward investment.

7. A Christian economic understanding seeks to reward and incentivize thrift.

In a fallen world, money and investments can quickly be distorted to idolatrous ends. For that reason, thrift is a very important issue in the Christian worldview. In a fallen world, abundance one day can turn into scarcity the next. Thrift may be what provides survival in times of poverty.

8. A Christian economic understanding upholds the family as the most basic economic unit.

When thinking about economic theory embedded in the beginning of the Bible, the dominion mandate is central, but so is the divine institution of marriage. The pattern of leaving and cleaving described in Genesis 2 is fundamental to our economic understanding.

Adam and Eve were the first economic unit. The result is that the family (biblically defined) is the most basic and essential unit of the economy.

9. A Christian economic understanding must respect community.

Most secular thinkers and economists begin with the community and then move to the family. However, thinking from larger to smaller economic units not only does not work in theory, it also fails in practice. Beginning with the family unit and then working out towards the community is a much smarter option. The doctrine of subsidiarity — which emerged out of natural law theory — teaches that meaning, truth and authority reside in the smallest meaningful unit possible.

If the family unit is deficient, no government can meet the need of its citizens. When the family is strong, government can be small. When the family is weak, however, the government must compensate for the loss. By focusing on the family, we respect and better the community.

10. A Christian economic understanding rewards generosity and proper stewardship.

Christians who are committed to the economics of the Kingdom and to the good of the next generation must live with a future-oriented financial perspective. We each have the responsibility, whether we have a lot or a little, to see that our generosity endures far beyond our lifespan.

Spirited generosity, which is so clear in Scripture, is essential to a Christian economic worldview.

11. A Christian economic understanding respects the priority of the church and its mission.

Christians must embrace economic priorities that the rest of the world simply will not understand. Christians must invest in churches, seminaries and international missions. These are distinctive Christian financial commitments. Our ultimate financial commitment is not to ourselves or to our own investments but to the Kingdom of Christ. Thus, Christians should always be ready to experience upheaval in economic priorities and arrangements because urgent kingdom issues can intervene at any moment.

12. A Christian economic understanding focuses on eschatological judgment and eschatological promise.

This life and its resources cannot deliver ultimate joy. The Christian worldview reminds us that we must live with the recognition that we will give an account to the Lord for our stewardship of our resources. At the same time, Christians must look to the eschatological promise of the New Heavens and New Earth as our ultimate economic hope. We must lay up treasures in heaven and not on earth.

”… ‘it’s no good! Õ says the buyer; then off he goes and boasts about his purchase.” (20:14) — For reading & meditation: Proverbs 20:1-22

We continue following the steps that help us become strong at the broken place of financial disaster: (5) Ask God to help you resist the powerful pressures of this modern-day consumer society. I once listened to a sermon in which the preacher likened Satan’s conversation with Eve in the Garden of Eden to the subtle tactics of modern advertising. The main point he made was that if Eve could become discontent with all she had in that lush garden called Paradise, there is little hope for us unless we identify and reject modern methods of alluring advertising.

What exactly is alluring advertising? One definition puts it like this: “Alluring advertising is a carefully planned appeal to our human weakness, which is designed to make us discontented with what we have so that we can rationalize buying things we know we do not need and should not have.” Not all advertising, of course, falls into this category, but much of it does.

Charles Swindoll, an American author, claims that some advertising is not just alluring, but definitely demonic. I agree. He says that he and his family have developed a simple technique to overrule television commercials that attempt to convince us that we need a certain product in order to be happy. He describes it like this: “Every time we feel a persuasive tug from a television commercial, we simply shout at the top of our voices: ‘Who do you think you’re kidding!’” He claims it really works. God expects us to discipline ourselves in relation to many things, and not the least is the discipline of spiritual “sales resistance.”

PRAYER:

Father, help me, I pray, to see right through the alluring advertising of today’s world, and develop within me the wisdom and strength to build up a strong spiritual “sales resistance.” For Your honor and glory I ask it. Amen

FURTHER STUDY:

1. What are the three avenues which advertising exploits?

2. What is John’s admonition?

The common belief that people who make more money are happier is mostly an illusion, according to a study appearing in the June 30, 2006, issue of the journal “Science.”

“People with above-average income are relatively satisfied with their lives but are barely happier than others in moment-to-moment experience, tend to be more tense, and do not spend more time in particularly enjoyable activities,” the study led by two Princeton University professors found. “Moreover, the effect of income on life satisfaction seems to be transient.”

Researchers examined data gleaned from a 2004 study and a 2005 study of working women in Texas and Ohio and discovered that higher income played a relatively small role in people’s daily happiness. They limited the studies to women because they wanted to use a homogeneous group, a Princeton news release said.

“We argue that people exaggerate the contribution of income to happiness because they focus, in part, on conventional achievements when evaluating their life or the lives of others,” researchers wrote.

Women who participated in the study were asked to report the percentage of time they spent in a bad mood the previous day and to predict how much time people with certain income levels spend in a bad mood. The respondents expected women who earned less than $20,000 a year to spend 32 percent more of their time in a bad mood than they expected people who earned more than $100,000 a year to spend in a bad mood.

“In actuality, respondents who earned less than $20,000 a year reported spending only 12 percent more of their time in a bad mood than those who earned more than $100,000,” the study found, according to the news release. “So the effect of income on mood was vastly exaggerated.”

Furthermore, the study incorporated results from a nationwide Bureau of Labor Statistics survey which said people with higher incomes devote relatively more of their time to work, shopping, childcare and other obligatory activities. People with higher incomes were found to spend less time on activities such as socializing or watching television, which are often deemed more leisurely.

Money does not play a significant role in day-to-day happiness, Alan Krueger, a professor of economics at Princeton and an author of the study, told The Washington Post. Though money can purchase possessions, it does not usually abolish the most basic struggles common to people today -- concerns about children, relationship problems and job stress.

“People grossly exaggerate the impact that higher incomes would have on their subjective well-being,” Krueger told The Post.

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #15907]

It’s scary. Credit card debt continues to rise in America. With stagnant wages, a deflating housing market, and adjustable mortgages skyrocketing, the bill may finally be coming due.

Credit card debt elimination is no easy task. By the time you’re in over your head, the interest on your debt creates ever-escalating payments. It’s happened to millions of Americans. Here are some interesting facts about debt in America to help you keep a wary eye on credit.

25 FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT PERSONAL DEBT

1. Some 1.6 million U.S. households -- 1 of every 73 -- filed for bankruptcy in 2003.

2. There are roughly 1.2 billion credit cards in use in the United States.

3. The original Diners Club card was issued in 1950 to let businessmen charge meals. It was pasteboard with a list of the 27 restaurants that accepted it printed on the back. The first plastic card came out in 1955. Today, there are about 20,000 different cards available in the U.S.

4. Studies show the average consumer is exposed to more than 3,000 marketing messages every day. In the last decade, solicitations jumped from 1.52 billion annually to 4.29 billion.

5. Today roughly 24 percent of personal expenditures in this country are made with credit and debit cards.

6. Average per household debt in the U.S., not counting mortgage debt, is about $14,500 -- especially noteworthy because before the 1930s, most middle and working class people had NO major debts. Banks would not lend to them; they rented their homes and if they did own a house, it was paid for as it was being built.

7. A typical credit card purchase ends up costing 112 percent more than if cash were used.

8. A $1,000 charge on an average credit card will take almost 22 years to pay, and will cost more than $2,300 in interest ($3,300 total) -- if only 2 percent minimum payments are made.

9. Some 40% of American families annually spend more than they earn.

10. About 60% of active credit card accounts are not paid off monthly.

11. Average credit card debt among all American households is $8,400.

12. Average card debt among people who have at least one card is $9,205 -- triple what it was in 1990.

13. Average personal wealth of a 50-year-old American, including home equity: less than $40,000.

14. A typical American family today pays about $1,200 annually in credit card interest.

15. The average interest rate on credit cards is 18.9%.

16. Last year the credit card industry took in $43 billion in card fees.

17. 9 of 10 Americans claim credit card debt has never been a source of worry.

18. But 47% would refuse to tell a friend how much they owe.

19. 23% of Americans admit to maxing out a credit card.

20. 11% of Americans admit card debts went to collection.

21. 13% of Americans have been 30 days late paying credit card bills in the past year.

22. The average graduate student has 6 credit cards and 1 in 7 owes more than $15,000.

23. People using credit cards in fast food restaurants spend up to 50% more than when they pay cash.

24. The personal savings rate in the United States has dropped from 8% in the 1980s to just under 2% since 2000.

25. Medical debts sink the ship in 1 of every 20 bankruptcies. Typical health care debt: $25,000. Typical victim: a senior on a fixed income. Typical scenario: pricey prescriptions bought on high-interest credit cards.

*

[Original illustration at this number was moved to HolwickID #25702]

Sermon in Proverbs series. Proverbs 30:8-9

MONEY MATTERS

=============

I. Money problems.

A. The root of all evil.

B. Can you have it all?

C. A wise compromise from Proverbs 30:8-9

II. Prosperity doesn't drop from the sky.

A. Dreams of instant wealth.

B. Prosperity will not fall into your lap. 28:19

III. God's work ethic.

A. Work hard. 10:4; 14:23

B. Save regularly . 13:11

C. Avoid debt. 22:7

D. Plan for the future. 21:5

IV. God brings prosperity.

V. Spending isn't limited to yourself.

A. Concern for the poor is the greatest focus in Proverbs. 11:25

B. Give to God first. 3:9-10

VI. Money has its limits.

A. Money can't get you out of hell or into heaven. 11:4

We all know that money can’t buy love or happiness. But could just thinking about money actually make you mean?

A new behavioral study finds that folks with money on their minds are less helpful, less considerate and less willing to ask for assistance or engage with others than those who have not been preconditioned to money. On the bright side, the money-minded tend to be more independent and focused and they tend to work longer on a task before asking for help.

The nine experiments in the study, published as “The Psychological Consequences of Money” in a recent issue of Science Magazine, used random samples of students and nonstudents at the University of Minnesota, Florida State University and the University of British Columbia.

Kathleen Vohs, the assistant professor of marketing at the UM Carlson School of Management who authored the article with Nicole Mead of FSU and Miranda Goode of UBC, says she was surprised at how consistent the findings were across the nine experiments.

“Money may not be the root of all evil, but it might be the root of some indifference,” she says. “It does make you perhaps indifferent to others.”

AT THE DROP OF A PENCIL

To determine whether money in mind leads to self-sufficient behavior, Vohs and her team divided their subjects into groups. The control group received neutral preconditioning while the “money prime” group was subtly reminded of money in various ways: a word scramble puzzle that contained money references, a poster depicting different currencies, stacks of play money or tokens, or reading an essay that mentioned money.

Following the preconditioning, the groups were given a task or placed in a staged situation that tested measurable subconscious behavior.

In the first two experiments, subjects were given a puzzle and told that help was available for the asking, either from the experimenter or a peer who had just completed the exercise. Result: The money-prime participants waited significantly longer than control subjects to ask for help.

In the next four experiments, subjects were asked for help in several scenarios: by the experimenter, by another participant, by a passerby who spilled a box of pencils in a random accident or by the suggestion that they donate to the University Student Fund. Result: The money-prime subjects offered to fill out fewer data sheets, spent less time helping a peer, picked up fewer pencils and donated less to the student fund than their neutral counterparts.

In the final three experiments, money-prime participants placed more physical distance between themselves and a participant partner, preferred solitary to group leisure activities and more frequently chose to work alone rather than with a peer compared to the control participants.

‘SOCIAL CLUELESSNESS’

But does that necessarily mean money makes you mean?

“No, we don’t find any evidence of that,” Vohs says. “We take a lot of emotion measures, and money reminders don’t put people in a different mood. Since mean people are generally in a bad mood, we rule that out. In nine studies, we found no effect on mood.”

Then again, money primes weren’t exactly candidates for Mr. or Miss Congeniality either.

“We didn’t find any animosity; it was more of a sense of social cluelessness. They’re not mindful of other people. We don’t have any indication that they were being rude to these people. It was more ‘I can’t help you’ or ‘I don’t know how to help you.’ Granted, being helpful would be a nicer thing to do, but the intention wasn’t to be selfish or mean; they just didn’t see that they had a role in this person’s life.”

The study doesn’t surprise New York psychologist and author April Lane Benson. She’s been counseling clients for years that the acquisition of wealth for the wrong reasons is virtually a prescription for unhappiness.

“So much of the literature says that there is an inverse relationship between subjective well-being and materialism,” she says. “But it only holds when the motives have to do with the desire to hoard, amass and use money for power and control, keep up with the Joneses, rather than as a vehicle for generosity.

“It does not hold when you want money in order to educate your children or save for the future.”

Benson notes with interest that the study’s findings were remarkably consistent, regardless of geography or the wealth of the participants.

“The fact that it is consistent over nine studies might tell us that there aren’t that many of us around who want money for the right reasons,” she says.

MONEY CHANGES EVERYTHING

Vohs says the study’s findings may have broad implications from the boardroom to the schoolroom. If just the thought of money tends to alter behavior, an increased awareness of that might one day lead to more productive relationships at work and at home.

“I think there is a power here to be used for good as well,” she says. “Depending on the results you are seeking to bring about, you can either underplay or enhance the role of money.”

Take “Dilbert,” which portrays the prototypical dysfunctional corporate cube farm where the well-intentioned efforts of the engineers are continually undercut by the bottom-line reasoning of a clueless management.

“If, as a manager, your goal is to get work groups to be very, very cooperative, you want to really minimize the presence of money and the importance of money, because if cooperation is the key, that’s going to be problematic,” says Vohs.

“On the other hand, you can use money to orchestrate certain situations. For instance, if you had a task where you really wanted people to just go at it full force and independently because maybe teamwork would slow the project down, then you may want to motivate them with money.”

On the home front, where money battles rank as the No. 1 cause of divorce, an ounce of awareness of the potency of the subject may eliminate the need for a ton of counseling.

“In interpersonal relationships, we know that it’s very difficult to talk about money,” she says. “Couples, and even parents and children, need to approach the topic with very open eyes and realize that disagreements that arise might just be because of the money and not because of what the other person is saying.”

“You’re working at cross purposes if you’re going to incentivize with money. I think it’s important to learn just to learn. On the other hand, I think that things like making the bed or helping set the table could be incentivized with a weekly allowance and I think that would be just fine because those are daily tasks that they’re not going to find much love in anyway. You can use money as an incentive to help kids be more self-reliant, but downplay the role of money when you’re teaching values.”

Benson agrees: “These are important findings that parents should know about. These studies show parents that if they’re throwing money and money talk around too much, this is the kind of long-term effect it could have.”

________

Jay MacDonald is a contributing editor based in Texas

There is this common saying that all that glitters is not gold. In searching for gold, people usually come across its counterfeit, called pyrite.

Pyrite glitters like gold and is easier to find, usually in the same region where there are gold deposits. Its discovery can spark hope of becoming a millionaire, but it is short-lived. Sudden disillusionment will set in when a goldsmith reports that it is not gold that has been discovered, but fool’s gold.

We can avoid this agony by learning how to test whether what glitters is real gold or pyrite. One method is to rub your discovery on the rough side of a ceramic tile. If the glittering remains, then you have discovered real gold. But if it leaves a black streak, you have fool’s gold.

This same process should be applied to our beliefs about God, particularly when it comes to seeking prosperity. Some preachers have become New York Times best-selling authors with books assuring that financial and medical blessing is God’s will for every Christian. This reality is possible, they say, for those who speak it into existence and believe.

Be careful not to fall for the glitter that it projects.

As you rub the principles of the prosperity gospel against God’s Word, it quickly becomes black. God never promised that every person who claims to be a Christian would be financially independent if they just adopt prosperity gospel teachings.

When Jesus spoke of “asking, seeking and knocking,” it was in the context of His Kingdom message of trusting God, not the system that the religious leaders were profiting from. Whenever Jesus discussed riches, it carried an eternal perspective. Taking a holistic view of the Scriptures, discussing financial blessing without connecting it to God’s greater Kingdom plan is to teach outside the will of God.

Seek what God is interested in doing in your life. As we get closer to God, we will realize that His desire is to bless according to His purposes and in His time. The focus is God, not cars, promotions, boats or other non-essentials.

God wants to bless your humble prayers. Instead of yearning for earthly riches, ask for heavenly blessings such as wisdom. This is the type of prayer that God honors. It is how King Solomon prayed in 1 Kings 3:9: “So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”

God had given Solomon a blank check for his prayers. He could have asked for more power, more possessions and more pleasure. Instead, Solomon asked for wisdom, which became the noble hallmark of his life.

Praying for wisdom is your best prayer for raising your family, advancing in your career goals, dealing with relationship drama, finding ways to pay the bills, investing your money, getting out of debt or even buying something new like a car. Asking God for wisdom will also serve as that necessary “selfish filter” which we all need.

Focusing on God prospering your soul doesn’t mean you can’t ask Him for needs and even some righteous wants. He desires to provide for His people. The apostle Paul, after encouraging the church at Philippi on contentment, reminded them in their time of poverty to trust and wait on God’s provisions. “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus,” Paul wrote in Philippians 4:19.

If you’re asking with the right heart and the right focus, the Spirit will filter out the nonsense. Pray expecting God to provide but do so without trusting in your own power to “make” or “cause” God to answer. Pray with confidence balanced with humility. This will help you know the difference between false gold and God’s gold for your life.

________

Ray Parascando is pastor of Crossroads Church in Staten Island, N.Y.

You know you’re in financial bondage if ...

a. You argue with other family members about money.

b. You don’t pay off your credit card each month.

c. You get past due notices.

d. You spend money as emotional therapy. Or ...

e. All of the above.

The correct answer is any or all of the above. If one or more of these apply to you, you need to bring your finances in line with biblical principles.

Maybe you think financial bondage is everywhere, but I have the privilege of meeting thousands of people following God’s principles who are living a joyous, victorious life of financial freedom. You can, too.

Financial bondage is usually the result of incorrect beliefs about money. Romans 12:2 offers the solution: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

You may profess to be a follower of Christ, and yet your financial habits have been subtly conformed to what everybody else is doing. This issue is commonly known as the “keeping up with the Joneses” syndrome. That’s why it’s important to be transformed by the renewing of your mind -- as Scripture says -- because what you believe changes how you behave. Applying spiritual truth leads to very practical results. I know, because it happened to me.

If you change what you believe about money -- turning away from what the culture wants you to believe and toward what God wants to teach you -- you’ll be transformed, radically changed from the inside out.

Then, when you apply that truth to your financial decisions, your behavior will change. Even better, it will stay changed as you stay in God’s Word and are fed by it. Anything else is just a fad diet that won’t protect you from slipping back into financial bondage.

As you commit to following God’s way out of financial bondage, here are some practical steps that you can begin implementing right away:

1. Stop any form of borrowing. This includes credit cards and loans from family and friends. Consumer credit is our most common source of indebtedness, and the sooner you stop borrowing, the sooner you will get out of debt.

2. Develop a spending plan. A spending plan gives you the freedom to spend money with a purpose or strategy. It simplifies daily decisions and ensures that your priorities will be met. The deeper in debt you are, the more restrictive your spending plan will need to be while you pay down debt.

3. Work out a payback plan with your creditors. Most creditors are willing to work with people who honestly want to repay them.

4. Learn to trust God and you will experience self-control. That sounds like a paradox, but it’s the key to getting out of debt and staying out of debt. The more you trust God, the less you’ll want to borrow.

5. Break the hold materialism has on your heart through giving. The cure for wanting things is generosity. Begin giving 10 percent of your income to support God’s work to demonstrate He is the highest priority in your life.

6. Seek counsel and advice. Pray and ask God to place others in your life that will gladly share their wisdom and experience to help you achieve your goals.

The Christian worldview reminds us that we must live with the recognition that we will give an account to the Lord for our stewardship of our resources.

Regrettably, many American Christians know little about economics. Furthermore, many Christians assume that the Bible has nothing at all to say about economics. But a biblical worldview actually has a great deal to teach us on economic matters. The meaning of work, the value of labor, and other economic issues are all part of the biblical worldview. At the same time we must recognize that the Christian worldview does not demand or promote a particular economic system.

Because this is the case, Christians must allow the economic principles found in Scripture to shape our thinking while simultaneously recognizing that we can act in light of those principles in any economic, cultural, or generational setting.

1. A Christian economic understanding has God’s glory as its greatest aim.

For Christians, all economic theory begins with an aim to glorify God (1 Corinthians 10:31). We have a transcendent economic authority.

2. A Christian economic understanding respects human dignity.

No matter the belief system, those who work show God’s glory, whether they know it or not. People may believe they are working for their own reasons, but they are actually working out of an impulse that was put into their hearts by the Creator for his glory.

3. A Christian economic understanding respects private property and ownership.

Some economic systems treat the idea of private property as a problem. But Scripture never considers private property as a problem to be solved (see, for instance, the Ten Commandments). Scripture’s view of private property implies it is the reward of someone’s labor and dominion. The Eighth and Tenth Commandments teach us that we have no right to violate the financial rewards of the diligent.

4. A Christian economic understanding takes into full account the power of sin.

Taking the Bible’s teaching on the pervasive effects of sin into full account means that we expect bad things to happen in every economic system. A Christian economic understanding tries to ameliorate the effects of sin.

5. A Christian economic understanding upholds and rewards righteousness.

Every economic and government system comes with embedded incentives. An example of this is the American tax code which incentivizes desired economic behaviors. Whether they work or not is an issue of endless political recalibration. However, in the Christian worldview, that recalibration must continue upholding and rewarding righteousness.

6. A Christian economic understanding rewards initiative, industry and investment.

Initiative, industry and investment are three crucial words for the Christian’s economic and theological vocabulary. Initiative goes beyond action. It is the kind of action that makes a difference. Industry is human work done corporately. Investment is part of the respect for private property found in Scripture.

Investment, as it turns out, is as old as the Garden of Eden. That which accrues value is honorable, and the impulse to accrue that value is honorable. Thus, a Christian economic theory indicts anyone who will not work, not respect private property and not reward investment.

7. A Christian economic understanding seeks to reward and incentivize thrift.

In a fallen world, money and investments can quickly be distorted to idolatrous ends. For that reason, thrift is a very important issue in the Christian worldview. In a fallen world, abundance one day can turn into scarcity the next. Thrift may be what provides survival in times of poverty.

8. A Christian economic understanding upholds the family as the most basic economic unit.

When thinking about economic theory embedded in the beginning of the Bible, the dominion mandate is central, but so is the divine institution of marriage. The pattern of leaving and cleaving described in Genesis 2 is fundamental to our economic understanding.

Adam and Eve were the first economic unit. The result is that the family (biblically defined) is the most basic and essential unit of the economy.

9. A Christian economic understanding must respect community.

Most secular thinkers and economists begin with the community and then move to the family. However, thinking from larger to smaller economic units not only does not work in theory, it also fails in practice. Beginning with the family unit and then working out towards the community is a much smarter option. The doctrine of subsidiarity — which emerged out of natural law theory — teaches that meaning, truth and authority reside in the smallest meaningful unit possible.

If the family unit is deficient, no government can meet the need of its citizens. When the family is strong, government can be small. When the family is weak, however, the government must compensate for the loss. By focusing on the family, we respect and better the community.

10. A Christian economic understanding rewards generosity and proper stewardship.

Christians who are committed to the economics of the Kingdom and to the good of the next generation must live with a future-oriented financial perspective. We each have the responsibility, whether we have a lot or a little, to see that our generosity endures far beyond our lifespan.

Spirited generosity, which is so clear in Scripture, is essential to a Christian economic worldview.

11. A Christian economic understanding respects the priority of the church and its mission.

Christians must embrace economic priorities that the rest of the world simply will not understand. Christians must invest in churches, seminaries and international missions. These are distinctive Christian financial commitments. Our ultimate financial commitment is not to ourselves or to our own investments but to the Kingdom of Christ. Thus, Christians should always be ready to experience upheaval in economic priorities and arrangements because urgent kingdom issues can intervene at any moment.

12. A Christian economic understanding focuses on eschatological judgment and eschatological promise.

This life and its resources cannot deliver ultimate joy. The Christian worldview reminds us that we must live with the recognition that we will give an account to the Lord for our stewardship of our resources. At the same time, Christians must look to the eschatological promise of the New Heavens and New Earth as our ultimate economic hope. We must lay up treasures in heaven and not on earth.

Dear Chuck,

I’ve been reading about helicopter parenting, where parents hover over their children trying to control almost every aspect of their children’s lives to get “the right” outcome, compared to so-called “Free Range” parents who are hands off. And then, of course, we’ve all seen stories of parental neglect, where parents don’t care much at all. How does someone find the happy medium?

As my kids are getting older and preparing for college, I worry in particular that they are not ready to handle money, which can be very complicated, and I’d like to be involved in their financial decisions. How do I parent my kids about handling money without getting in the way of important life lessons?

Perplexed Parent

Dear Perplexed,

Let me commend you right up front for understanding an important truth — sometimes children need to learn from failure, and sometimes they need to experience unpleasant consequences to instill in them hard but important truths.

The current controversies surrounding Helicopter parenting, to my mind, involve a misunderstanding over the need to adjust as children grow older. To paraphrase Ecclesiastes, for everything there is a season ... a time to be very closely supervising, standing ready to rescue your children (Helicopter parenting) and a time to fly away to let kids figure out a few things on their own.

Young children need an appropriate amount of hovering, for their safety and to learn the basics of life. According to the Bible, the best way to teach your children the truth about the world we live in is to share God’s word with them as you spend time together.

In Deuteronomy 6, Moses tells the young nation of Israel that parents are responsible for passing on the most important lessons: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

In fact, our children are watching us closely, learning by our example how to handle money, bills, stress and relationships. It’s tempting to pretend that we have all the answers and hide the reality of hard choices we adults also have to make. Some of us don’t want our children to see that we don’t have the money to buy a new car anytime we please or to admit that a busted water heater means beans for supper. And it’s tempting to try to shield our children so that they don’t experience the difficulties we faced.

But life includes trials and mistakes. Trying to raise perfect children is an impossible goal and micromanaging our children so that they seldom fail prevents them from learning resilience and critical reasoning that comes through consequences .

Another good metaphor for parenting is to think of it like driving a manual transmission car. There are times you put on the gas or accelerate those things that are good and positive. When serious danger is present, a wise parent will lovingly use the brakes. When times are uncertain, use the clutch and pause. The pause allows for prayer, dialogue and mutual input towards a good decision. Not only do parents need to avoid a one-size-fits-all strategy when faced with key decisions but we need to teach our children to do the same.

As it relates to finances, my wife Ann and I first taught our sons God’s view of money, beginning basic money skills when they were in elementary school. We used a three-ring binder with clear pockets — one labeled giving, one labeled spending and one labeled saving. From their earliest exposure to money, they were taught how to allocate money and to live on a budget. Crown has a lot of tools available for parents to instruct their children in Biblical financial principles. You can teach children simple budgeting techniques and how to balance a checkbook or read their bank statements, along with a Biblical understanding of how to avoid debt.

As children become teenagers and are preparing to leave your home, it’s important to allow them to make their own choices, even some that could negatively impact them.

Consider this common scenario: your child has saved up $50 for something greatly desired, but after spending the money, he/she finds that an even more desirable purchase is on the market. You could give him/her the money, or, you could let them deal with the disappointment of being short. It’s tempting to be the hero, and give our children what they desire, but sometimes, it’s a much better lesson to allow our children to go without.

Proverbs notes that a workman’s appetite drives him to work harder. I’ve seen my own sons come up with creative solutions to get what they want, perhaps taking on an extra job for the cash or delaying gratification as they patiently save for the future.

Parents who solve too many problems for their kids — financial or otherwise — are actually hurting their ability to excel in future jobs.

The Wall Street Journal reported not long ago, “four in 10 U.S. college students graduate without the complex reasoning skills to manage white-collar work, according to the results of a test of nearly 32,000 students.”

The exam, known as the Collegiate Learning Assessment Plus, looks at skills students need for critical thinking, analytical reasoning, document literacy, and other kinds of big-picture tools to understand the “whys” of life and to problem solve in a work place.

But you can’t solve an unexpected problem at work if you never learned how to do that at home.

As a parent, there is a phrase that I’ve found useful when my children come to me with problems they want me to solve (including requests for money) — “I’m going to let you figure that one out.” Certainly offer advice, but allow them to make decisions and experience the joy or disappointment of their own actions.

We take baby steps to learn to walk and need to follow that same path in handling money and responsibility. Check these resources at Crown to teach financial principles to your kids, paying close attention to age appropriate intervention.

The Proverb says, “Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (22:6)

As your children age, let them know that you’re there to help, but be prepared to use the gas pedal, the brake or the clutch as the situation demands. That looks like a Yes, No or Wait in real practice.

Having done your best to impart Biblical wisdom, don’t be afraid to let them learn from the same kind of mistakes you’ve survived and to trust God who is always on duty faithfully watching over them.