Here's a piece on "bringing order to your financial house" that lists seven biblical principles for managing your money. The list, along with scripture references for each point, is as follows:
#1 – Acknowledge God’s Ownership (I Chronicles 29:11-12)
#2 – Establish a Budget (Proverbs 16:3)
#3 – Keep Giving & Saving at the Top (Proverbs 3:9, I Timothy 6:18)
#4 – Get Out of Debt ASAP! (Proverbs 22:7, I Cor. 7:2)
#5 – Avoid Indulgence and Hasty Decisions (Luke 12:15, Proverbs 21:5)
#6 – Establish Goals (Habakkuk 2:2)
#7 – Learn Contentment (Philippians 4:11, Colossians 3:15)
Pretty much the same sort of things I talk about here each week, but all rolled up into one article. I thought you all would enjoy reading it this morning. (FYI -- in my browser, the article does not start at the top of the page. Scroll down to read the piece.)
These are solid principles, and I would recommmend them to any one. However, I have to quibble with the Scripture reference for Establishing Goals. God's call to Habakkuk to record the vision was to show his coming judgement on the Chaldeans. It is too much of a stretch to pull this verse out of context and use as an example of establishing personal goals. A better verse would be "where there is no vision, the people perish" (Proverbs 29:18).
But aside from this reach, I concur with these Biblical principles and the good they would do for our lives and our community if we followed them.
Posted by: KM | August 12, 2007 at 09:00 AM
I actually looked up the Habukkuk reference and agree that it has nothing to do with goals.
FWIW they are sensible principles, apart from no.1 - for an atheist its more than a bit of a stretch to accept god exists, let alone his/her/its ownership of anything.
Posted by: plonkee | August 12, 2007 at 03:13 PM
Excellent article. I enjoyed it and will begin using all seven of the biblical principles.
Posted by: lmooreandrews | August 12, 2007 at 05:15 PM
Nice article. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: thewalletsaver | August 12, 2007 at 11:52 PM
If you're earning minimum wage, you should get a job that earns more money, for example you could be a cashier at Wal-Mart.
Posted by: Jake | August 13, 2007 at 07:43 AM
The above comment appears to be a non sequitur. (heh)
Posted by: Minimum Wage | August 13, 2007 at 08:27 AM
I can't get a job at Wal-Mart because my credit went in the tank when I landed in the hospital and couldn't work for a year...and I can't get my credit out of the tank on a minimum wage income.
Posted by: Minimum Wage | August 13, 2007 at 04:10 PM
If you are looking to make more than just minimum wage at a job, my team is doing something that is unheard of in the business industry. We are doing more than just showing people how, we are showing them where and when and why they should be with us (Team Out Of Eygpt)
Posted by: abnerb | August 14, 2007 at 05:39 PM
@ Minimum Wage
I had no idea that Wal-Mart had rules like that. Kinda sucky.
Posted by: plonkee | August 14, 2007 at 06:20 PM