Money. Some say it's what makes the world go around. For many people the amount of money—and the things it can buy—is the measure of how successful they are in life.
No matter how much you get, there always seems to be a need for more. Learning how to manage money is one of the greatest challenges of life.
The book of Proverbs contains a number of important points on how to manage money.
Points to build on
Honor God with your possessions.
Proverbs 3:9-10: "Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the first fruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine."
Plan for the future.
Proverbs 6:6-11: "Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep—so shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, and your need like an armed man."
Generosity produces more happiness than stinginess.
Proverbs 11:24-26: "There is one who scatters, yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty. The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself. The people will curse him who withholds grain, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it."
Real wealth lies in who we are, not in what you own.
Be careful about co-signing for others' debts.
Proverbs 22:26-27: "Do not be one of those who shakes hands in a pledge, one of those who is surety for debts; if you have nothing with which to pay, why should he take away your bed from under you?"
Be careful about borrowing money.
Proverbs 22:7: "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender."
Application
There are many proverbs about managing money and the proper approach to wealth. The book of Proverbs teaches that wealth itself isn't evil, but the accumulation of wealth without living according to God's purpose is meaningless.
Gary Petty is a 1978 graduate of Ambassador College with a BS in mass communications. He worked for six years in radio in Pennsylvania and Texas. He was ordained a minister in 1984 and has served congregations in Longview and Houston Texas; Rockford, Illinois; Janesville and Beloit, Wisconsin; and San Antonio, Austin and Waco, Texas. He presently pastors United Church of God congregations in Nashville, Murfreesboro and Jackson, Tennessee.
Gary says he's "excited to be a part of preaching the good news of God's Kingdom over the airwaves," and "trusts the material presented will make a helpful difference in people's lives, bringing them closer to a relationship with their heavenly Father."
