Wisdom from The Action Wisdom In Action

Biblical Attitudes Toward Money

Honor God
Proverbs 3:9 Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops.

• What do you have to do to honor God with your wealth?

Share
Ephesians 4: 28 He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.

• Why would God want you to share with those in need?

Give Thanks and Praise
Deuteronomy 8: 10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

17 You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." 18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.

• Verse 11 warns against forgetting God when you are satisfied. How can you avoid forgetting God?
  
• Why is essential that we remember that God gives us the ability to produce wealth, rather than thinking we did it with our own hands?

Investing in Heaven
Matthew 6: 19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

• How do you lay up treasure in heaven?
  
• Are you doing it?

Trust
Matthew 6: 25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

• What does it mean to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness?
  
• Is there anything you need to change to put God first?

Contentment
Hebrews 13: 5 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." 6 So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"

• What must you do to keep your life free of the love of money?
  
• What basis does this passage give us for being content?