In this article we will look at biblical concepts that help us to wisely deal with our finances and material possessions. The Bible has a lot to say about how we handle wealth, but for this article, we will focus on six biblical principles that provide general guidance. The goal of these is to achieve a balanced approach, which is needed for several reasons:
- Everyone uses money, or bartering, in order to function in the world so it applies to everyone.
- Some put too much emphasis on money, not giving God His proper place.
- Others don’t think about it enough, thereby making unwise decisions due to a lack of knowledge.
While there are many biblical passages available, we will mention just a few to demonstrate the principles.
Six Principles
I see these six principles as progressive in nature. We should have the first principle established before building upon it with principle number two and so on. They are not laid out in the Bible in this manner, but I think this is a wise approach. It makes logical sense to me, and hopefully, will make sense to you as well. They are:
- Devote ourselves to God first.
- We are stewards of our income, assets, and spending.
- Live on less than you make, which also implies how we handle credit.
- Savings -so we have resources for emergencies and future needs.
- Giving -sharing with others, not hoarding.
- Diversifying our assets -so we can better handle economic changes.
Principle 1. Devote ourselves to God first.
Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.”
In this section of Matthew, Jesus is contrasting the life of those who serve God compared to those serve money. Those who serve money are anxious for their lives, thinking that they alone must provide for themselves. The people serving God understand that He provides for them and gives them the ability to obtain their provision. At stake here, is what has the highest priority, God or Money? Jesus points out that our highest priority should be aligning ourselves with God’s kingdom and righteousness. Then the material world will have its proper place in our lives.
Once we have our priorities straight, and God has first place in our lives, we can now put the next principles in place correctly. This first principle is so important, not only is it first, if you don’t have it in place, none of the other principles will matter. (Please see the footnote for this for more on what it means to give God first place in your life.)1
Principle 2. We are stewards of our income, assets, and spending.
Deuteronomy 8:17 “Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’ 18 But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”
Luke 16:10-12 “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. 11 If therefore you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous mammon, who will entrust the true riches to you? 12 And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?”
God gives us the ability to gain wealth from that which He provides. Our handling of these resources demonstrates whether we are good stewards of that which God provides. The one faithful in being a good steward of money (a very little thing), proves he can be trusted with greater responsibilities.
Proverbs 27:23-24 “Know well the condition of your flocks, And pay attention to your herds; 24 For riches are not forever, Nor does a crown endure to all generations.”
In the agrarian culture, flocks and herds were the assets of their day. The instruction is to pay attention to the details of your assets since they do not maintain themselves. Nor is there a promise that a family’s wealth or position will be around from one generation to the next.
There are many stories where someone handed off their stewardship responsibility to a professional and ended up losing it all. Financial professionals can help us, but we are the ones with the responsibility for knowing the condition of our assets.
Now that the responsibility of our stewardship is understood, we can apply the next principle.
Principle 3. Live on less than you make -which also implies how we handle credit.
Proverbs 21:20 “There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise, But a foolish man swallows it up.”
‘Precious’ in this verse is speaking of that which is desirable, and ‘treasure’ refers to wealth such gold, silver, costly utensils, etc.2 Along with the oil, we could say that the wise are in possession of desirable wealth and provision. The foolish also gain wealth, but they view it quite differently than the person who is wise.
The idea of living on credit was a foreign concept when this proverb was written. The only way that the wise person could accumulate ‘ precious treasure and oil’ then, would be to not spend everything -to live on less than you make. The size of your income will determine how fast this treasure grows. One who is foolish consumes all their resources so that there is no surplus.
These days of easy credit requires more discipline for us to not violate this principle. The wise use of available credit can help us, but for most folks, it becomes a trap and should be avoided.
Living on less than we make allows us to accumulate assets and leads to the next principle.
Principle 4. Savings -so we have resources for emergencies and future needs.
Proverbs 13:22 “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, And the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.”
Again, the assets of an agrarian culture would be flocks and herds, and also include land that would be part of the wealth of a family. The ‘good man’ is not the selfish person who only looks to his own desires, but keeps assets in the family for future generations.
You might have seen the bumper sticker that says “We’re spending our kids inheritance,” typically stuck on an RV. It’s not that RV’s are bad, but to me this view is only funny if it were not true. If they really are spending the inheritance, then they are identifying themselves as an unrighteous person, called a ‘sinner’ in the verse.
In the previous principle we are spending less than we make which leads to savings. These savings then allow us to cover the unexpected financial emergency -which we all have, so it really should not be unexpected! Additional savings help us take care of future needs and can add to the wealth of our family passed on to future generations.
The next principle is closely related to our use of the money we don’t spend on ourselves.
Principle 5. Giving -sharing with others, not hoarding.
Ephesians 4:28 “Let him who steals steal no longer; but rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who has need.”
This verse shows the transformed life that moves from the selfishness of a thief, to unselfishly sharing with those in need. Having resources to share allows us to have an outward focus by giving.
There is a balance here and each of us must determine how much to keep and how much to give away. The verse says to ‘have something’ to share, not that we give everything away for we must provide for ourselves and our own family. Then too, we need not hoard our resources because of the first principle we covered. God is our provider.
Principle 6. Diversifying our assets -handling economic changes.
Ecclesiastes 11:2 “Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what misfortune may occur on the earth.”
It is not clear exactly what this verse is talking about -Bible commentators have several different views on it. One possible understanding commentators have put forth is that the writer is using the term ‘portion’ in the same way that I have been using the term ‘assets’ throughout the article.
This verse then would be saying that we should not keep all of our wealth in one place. We should divide our assets into various categories, which the financial industry calls diversifying. This is done because we do not know the misfortune that may come. Diversifying is simply understood as ‘not putting all your eggs in one basket.’ If you drop the basket you break all the eggs at once and all is lost.
For example, we might put some of our money into the stock market, a portion into real estate, keep some in cash, and put another amount into a mutual fund. The protection comes by spreading our assets around into different sectors of the economy. The operative word here is different, because typically not all areas of the economy struggle at the same time. Some areas do well when other areas do not.
Conclusion
We have looked at six principles to help us achieve a balanced approach with our finances and material possessions. The first principle is the most important: God is our provider and He has first place in our lives. Then, we build upon that principle with each of the other principles in turn.
Summarizing the principles:
- Our highest priority is to align ourselves with God’s kingdom and righteousness. Then, money and the material world will have its proper place in our lives.
- We are stewards of the assets God provides, and we need to pay proper attention to them because they do not maintain themselves.
- Living on less than we make allows us to accumulate assets.
- Savings are for the unexpected financial emergency, and help us take care of the future needs of our family for generations.
- Having an outward focus and sharing with others helps us not hoard our resources. God is our provider.
- Diversifying, or not putting all your eggs in one basket, is done because we do not know what misfortune may come.
My hope is that you will be able to implement these six biblical principles in your life so that you can achieve a balanced approach in handling your money and possessions. For my own story about the growth of giving in my life, see the post, Spirit of Giving.
Appendix
In the first principle we discussed having the proper view of wealth. Putting money first in our lives can have disastrous results. We might gain wealth, but we could get an inflated view of our abilities.
In a related article, I write about what can happen with too much power and prosperity. That post is titled, The Insanity of Prosperity.
1 John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.”
2 Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon. My summary for the words precious and treasure..