Financial Wisdom for Your Family

The Bible has a lot to say about money, specifically of value for someone trying to be intentional about family relationships. A financial treadmill of working and consuming can dominate your energy and thoughts to the degree that your good intentions for family relationships get squeezed out.

How can you get a handle on your money in order to be intentional in other areas?

How can you turn your money from being a challenge to being an asset?

Understand Where Real Security Comes From

Can money buy happiness? Yes it can.

What, you didn’t expect that from a Southern Baptist pastor?

You know this is true. Remember that feeling when you bought your Apple Watch? Or when you got the new refrigerator with all that shelf space? Or when you drove off the lot with your sweet, new ride? Or when you saw where that your stimulus check got put in your bank account?

What did you feel in those moments? Happiness? Security? Relief? Exhilaration? Probably some mixture of these emotions because for a brief window of time, money actually can buy happiness and security.

But be honest — how long did that feeling last? I’m guessing that there was a pretty short shelf life actually. Because here’s what I know:

When you trade in your sweet, new ride a few years from now, the person who drives it off the lot is going to feel the exact same thing.

When your Apple Watch becomes outdated and you buy the next upgrade, you’ll feel the same feeling again.

And when that next stimulus check comes (I’m writing this on February 18, can we get a little hurry up), you’ll feel the happiness and security that comes from a bigger bank account.

But the feelings won’t last. It’s like filling my 2 year old with pop-tarts. The kids loves pop-tarts and it truly seems like there just aren’t enough in the world to satisfy him. But even more than that if you really want to get down to it, the processed sugary goodness, as tasty as it is, will never be enough to satisfy him. In the same way, the things that money can give are good and enjoyable and yet it will never be enough to satisfy our deep, human cravings for security and happiness.

We often think the answer to our money problems is to have a little more, but Solomon observed, “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income” (Ecclesiastes 5:10).

The writer of Hebrews adds, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5).

I’m saying this from Scriptural example as much as personal experience; money can provide happiness and security but it is nothing compared to the happiness and security that God provides. Scripture reminds us that every good and perfect gift is from above. Realizing happiness and security come from the Giver of all good gifts not only gives deep, lasting satisfaction but also makes these good gifts all the more enjoyable.

Remember that People are More Important than Things

In Romans 13:8, the apostle Paul says, “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law.” Most Christian financial advisers stress the value in eliminating and staying out of debt as much as possible. Most likely this is to avoid crippling debt payments and interest rates, but it seems that Paul is saying that the less debt you have, the more you’re able to focus on the “debt to love one another.”

Focusing on relationships over things also can cause you to reconsider your purchasing and work decisions. Isaiah 55:2 asks the question, “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?”

Like we said in the above point, the stuff we can buy isn’t bad at all. However, as our boy Tyler Durden once said, “The stuff we own often ends up owning us.” When the debt of our stuff is crushing us, we aren’t free to focus on our debt to love one another. So consider these questions:

• Do you ever feel like you’re working hard to pay off debt for purchases that weren’t essential and didn’t even satisfy?

• How could you simplify your expenses and make them more consistent with your family priorities in this season of life?

Allow Your Giving to Re-Orient Your Desires

God will often use how you deal with money to help you see where your heart is. Jesus said as much in Matthew 5 when he said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Now we get this. We understand this right?

Where you put your money at, your heart is going to follow that. This is how God begins to turn our hearts toward Himself when we give.

So my dad is a lifelong Auburn Tiger fan. Like Weagle Weagle, War Eagle, all of it. Big Auburn fan.

Well he had a son who wanted to be different and go to the University of Florida. Well something interesting began to happen. Mr. Auburn Tiger starts cheering for them Gators a little bit. Why? Because the man started cutting checks to the University of Florida and when your giving thousands of dollars to something your heart goes with it!

That’s what God says happens to our hearts when we give our money to the Kingdom of God, our heart goes with it. CS Lewis said, “One of the dangers of having a lot of money is that you may be quite satisfied with the kinds of happiness money can give, and so fail to realize your need for God. If everything seems to come simply by signing checks, you may forget that you are at every moment totally dependent on God.”

So this is where God begins to go to work. He begins to poke around in how we spend our money, how we save our money, and how we give our money away. He shows also shows us where our heart is while He empowers us toward a greater love for Him and His Kingdom.

It might seem counterintuitive, but allowing your giving to reorient your desires frees you up to invest in family and to give generously to other families who are praying for God’s provision.