I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. 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 20:33-35
Personal financial education is widely misunderstood: many people have told me they do not need to attend my courses or read my literature because they are not in debt. While minimising the risk of debt is one outcome, there is much more to financial capability – just as there is more to learning how to drive than avoiding accidents! People learn how to drive so they can exercise their freedom, travel with greater independence and go places. Learning how to use money well equips and empowers people to stick with more of their lifestyle choices. It motivates good behaviour, such as creating a budget, minimising credit card and overdraft balances, saving, planning for retirement and starting an emergency fund that reduces dependence on credit and insurance. It results in fewer liabilities and increased net worth. Some research in America indicates that people who act on financial education are, after about 10 years, on average better off by a whole year’s income.
But more important than the financial benefits, people who handle their money well can live better quality lives: they are free to be better family members, friends and employees. It helps them challenge consumerism and materialism and live with greater contentment, whether they have plenty or little.
Like financial capability generally, there are misconceptions about what constitutes a distinctly ‘Christian’ approach to money. It is not, for example, seeking a middle way between a traditional Christian austerity, like the vow of poverty expected of ‘spiritual’ people, and the conspicuous extravagance of modern consumerism. It is not giving-led, as if everything else falls into place if we faithfully tithe our income and ‘sow’ into God’s work. It is a new way of understanding that moves money right away from the centre of our lives.
Paul never forgot that Jesus himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ The passage quoted above is the conclusion of his final farewell to the elders of the church at Ephesus and he takes the opportunity to remind them that he worked to support his own ministry for the very purpose of being able to give to others. It was an example for every generation.
Throughout the Bible, money, wealth and the good things in life are presented as blessings from God but, concurrently, it warns that to love, pursue and hoard them leads to moral and spiritual self-destruction. So how should we examine our income and spending? Do you think that a set of lifestyle rules derived from the Bible would help us to minimise waste and oppose extravagance in food, clothing, housing and transport? And to distinguish between luxuries and necessities, special celebrations and normal routine, dressing well and slavery to fashion, creative hobbies and empty distractions from the pressures of work?
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Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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