“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” - Matthew 6:24
Money management is a term that intimidates most of us. The good news is you don’t have to be a Wall Street broker or a Certified Financial Planner to manage your money wisely. God has much to say about money and our use of it in His Word. He has a financial plan that never fails regardless of how much you make or how much you owe. The focus of this plan is not on your money but on your heart. Its success is dependent on faith, not on a balance sheet.
The reason so many of us get into financial trouble is because we fail to understand and obey God’s financial plan. When we put money where God should be in our lives, we end up loving money and trying to use God instead of loving God and letting Him use our money. The late French writer, Alexandre Dumas, once said, “Do not value money for any more nor any less than its worth; it is a good servant but a bad master.” God is the Master; money is the servant. This is always true in God’s economy.
There are only three things we can do with money: 1) Spend, 2) Save, and 3) Share. And the vast majority of people manage money in this order. In this order, the first priority is “me.” I spend money on what I want and what I need. Notice the second priority is also “me.” If there is anything left over I might save some. God, then, is left in third place with the leftovers. And let’s be honest…there are rarely any leftovers when we manage money this way.
God has a better, wiser way to manage money. It is counterintuitive to what feels right – and that is why His plan requires faith. The key to His strategy is not to make more but to give more. “In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus how He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive, ’” (Acts 20:35). God’s way flips the order of money management to: 1) Share, 2) Save, and 3) Spend. When we give God the first part of our money, He will manage the rest. This requires tremendous faith, but He is faithful!
I encourage you to follow God’s money management plan for the next two months and see what happens. Make your first check out to God and His Kingdom. Make the second check to savings (even if it is just a small amount). Make your next payment to debt (even if it is only a small bite of the elephant). Then pay whatever taxes and bills you have to pay and live on what is left over. This plan may not make sense on paper, but you must believe that since God gives you eternal life through Christ, He can also give you anything you need in this life.
Father, Help me to trust You enough to manage my money according to Your way and not my own.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Topics: Wisdom
