10 Financial Commandments Part 2

Financial Commandment 4

Thou shall be a good steward with what you have.

The wise man saves for the future, but the foolish man spends whatever he gets. (Proverbs 21:20 LB)

Matthew 25 ¹⁸But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money.

Luke 16:10 ¹⁰ He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much

How do you get everything done in six days that you need to do so that you can have a day of total rest on the seventh?

You have to manage your time—and your work load, right? You work hard and work wisely—and then you say, “That’s enough!” And that applies to the money you make by working. You save enough—and then learn to manage what you have.

Here’s the deal. To be able to tithe—and to be able to love and help others with your resources—you have to be able to live on less than what you make. Stewardship is about intentionally living on less than what you make.

When we keep in the front of our mind that God owns everything and we must manage what he has given us, then we are being the great stewards He knows that we can be.

God has given us what we have—not so that we will blow the whole wad on ourselves—but so that we can care for our needs, care for the poor, and also invest in his plan to redeem the world

Financial Commandment 5

Thou shall teach thy children about money

Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.”

This verse tells us it is important for us to prepare our children for the future. By teaching our children about finances, as fathers and mothers we are letting them know we take our influence of their lives seriously.

When we teach our children about money, we let them know that money is the answer to most of their problems and not all or our problems. For that to take root in their hearts—that’s what they have to see in the value system we live by all the time. If our children see that worship, following Jesus, and believing in His Kingdom comes in third to making money, they will have their priorities out of order. There is nothing wrong with making money long as they (and we) understand that money doesn’t make us.

Jesus said—you can’t serve both God and Mammon! We must serve God and not mammon.

Financial Commandment 6

Thou shall take time to plan and budget with your finances.

Luke 14:28: “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?”

The 6^th commandment is thou shall not murder, and when we are not budgeting we are murdering certain opportunities that’s ahead of us.

Each of you have a main waterline that comes into your house—whether it’s from a well or a public water supply? There is a system—hidden in the walls—that takes the water to where you need it—bathrooms, the kitchen and laundry room. It’s called...plumbing!

A budget is simply the plumbing that takes the resources from your bank account and wallet—to all the places where it needs to go—so they all operate properly.

Do you know why many people don’t develop a budget? Sometimes it’s because they don’t feel like it. But mostly, it’s because they don’t know how.

Please understand—coming up with a budget a plan is one of the best, most freeing things you will ever do. Do it!

If you don’t—the stress money causes can wreck your body, your marriage and your walk with God.