The Proper Perspective

The first thing that needs to be addressed in any study regarding finances is that money is neutral: neither good nor bad in and of itself.  It can be used for good or bad purposes, but is not inherently good or evil.  But our attitudes toward money and the way we handle it do reflect good and bad motives. 

Nearly everyone knows the improper attitude towards money and has heard "for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6:10), but all the proper attitudes we should possess are not as succinctly stated in scripture.  However, if we can identify and apply the biblical attitudes God expects of us, we will experience the blessings of being in His will.

The Bible lists a variety of correct attitudes toward money, and many of these will be addressed in future posts. For now, we will concentrate on two simple fundamental attitudes which are the foundation of our stewardship responsibility.  They are:

• God owns everything.
• Though God owns it all, He entrusts each of us with part of it.  We are to manage our portion for Him and will be held accountable for our actions.

Let's take a look at each of these and explore what they mean.

God owns everything.  The Bible clearly states that God is the owner of everything  (Psalm 24:1).  And why not, He created it all!  Everything includes not only items we generally consider "wealth" such as money, homes, cars, businesses, etc. but EVERYTHING on earth: our health, family, the environment, etc.  Every thing that can be named is owned by God.

We are stewards of God's wealth.  God does not keep this wealth for Himself.  He has given each of us a portion, similar to the men who gave portions to their servants in Matthew 25 and Luke 19.  Like these servants, we are expected to manage the wealth in accordance with the Master's wishes, and we will be rewarded according to our faithfulness.  In short, though God entrusts us with parts of His wealth, we must manage it according to His wishes, not ours, because He (not we) is the owner of it. 

This "test" by God allows us to demonstrate our commitment to Him and His principles.  This responsibility and its reason for being is addressed in Luke 16:10-12 where it states: "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.  So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?"

If you're interested in a Bible study on this issue, look up the noted scriptures and meditate on them.

In addition, if you like this post you may like last Sunday's post on Five Biblical Principles about Borrowing and Debt.

Comments

[Marty]

I stopped reading at "God owns everything." I like how your "proper perspective on money" involves someone who you can't see or touch.

Next time, get in touch with reality. You may as well be talking about the tooth fairy.

[FMF]

Marty --

If you have something constructive to add to the conversation here, then that's fine. I'm all about discussing financial issues from all different perspectives. But I'm not going to take comments from someone who clearly has no purpose here but to be mean and spiteful. I just don't need that in my life nor do I want to subject my readers to it.

[Liza]

This article is very helpful to me as a Christian school teacher who is teaching Consumer Math in light of our responsibility as stewards. God most certainly owns everything. Straight from the Bible.

[Special Ed]

My problem is that my sister prays to god for everything rather than cutting back on spending and/or getting a second job to pay her bills. She is 40+ years old and can't figure out how to pay her debts, save money, or be financially responsible in any way. She has no retirement, no health insurance for her or her child, and $0.00 in the bank. I've talked to her many times about all of these things, but she doesn't listen to me or take any action other than going to church and praying for help from god.

BTW, I'm not against religion or anyone believing what they want, but this is a very unhealthy outlook on life and religion IMHO. And why has god has done so much for me while I have not spoken to him?

[AAA]

Special Ed, I believe that the reason your sister is in financial upheavel and that you are financially secure is simply the fact that you have used the tools necessary to achieve this and God has blessed you for that, while your sister has shirked her responsibilities and put it all God's lap. I used to think that all you had to do was have faith and everything would be allright, but it is written faith without works is dead. I learned the hard way that unless you use the tools that God has given you your faith is meaningless.

[Khetha Zulu]

It is sad there are some people who in this day & age their logic still tells them everything you see came from what was seen. Because of this, they cant believe earth was created from unseen to the seen. Due to this poor logic, they wont accept God is the creator & owner of everyting including our lives in totality (incl wealth). Believing earth just formed by itself from natural gases & processes with no one controling & organising it, lead one to believe that therefore life has no purpose. What a sad, directionless & boring life to live. If you believe you were created, it will make sense that a manufacturer first identify a need, a purpose & then design (create) a product to meet that need. God saw a need for creating earth & after its creation, saw a purpose/need for human beings on it, & created them. So, if we can just get these two facts & live according to them - He is the Creator of heaven & earth; & therefore Owns everything in it including human beings.

[Dr. Artfredo C. Abella, Ph.D. - LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A.]

Everything in this mundane world including the universe, the galaxy and the milky way is God's creation, hence he owns everything. What then is our role in this world? We have to take note that God created man in His own image, in His image he created man. We must therefore be good stewards of God's creation since the wrong and neglectful usage of God's creation will redound similar to those as mentioned in the parables of talent. God is wealthy, abundant, rich and prosperous that is why He created everything that includes money. This is the reason why to be poor is a sin because that is contrary to what God wants us to be that is to be rich, healthy, wealthy, productive and affluent as He is. Other authors would say that the only way we can help the poor is to become not one of them but after summing up all the ways to having a productive and rich life the only ultimate goal of man is to be merciful and help the poor, the destitute and needy. We are presently in this temporal world, we are but a shadow passing through so the best that we can do is to make our lives productive, help the needy and strive to be happy. The universe as what the scientist have finally resolved is made up of vast waves of energy going and passing through. We are but part of this great wave of energy as created by God whether we will be part of this energy in the form of light or darkness remains a great question for us to pursue. If we resolve to use our energies to productive use then that is in alignment of what God wants us to be, on the contrary, if we use our energies in the dark sides of life then that will cause more harm to society rather than helping it. The choice is for us to make.