Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today.   If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers.  He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your forefathers to give you.  Deuteronomy 7:11-13 (NIV)

This week’s Bible verse is a simple reminder of who is in control of everything (hint: it’s God).  Yes, it is a simple truth but one that I think we need to remind ourselves of occasionally.  Of course, most God-honoring people know that God “blesses” but I think sometimes we lose sight of the specifics of what or how He blesses us.  That’s why this is our weekly verse…

Not only does God bless us in a generic sense but he also blesses materially as well.  He will bless “the crops of your land, … the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.”   This is another reminder to not separate out your “church” life from your “work” life.  We should not be people that do church and then do work and then ….   Instead, we should be Christians who recognize that God wants to be foremost in ALL of our lives: yes Sunday morning but also every morning.  He wants to be the most important thing in all aspects of our lives and has the capability to direct us and bless us in all aspects of our lives as well.  Seeing as this is a personal finance blog, I thought it appropriate to remind us who is really in control of our finances and wealth.

So don’t be a person who goes to church sometimes; rather, be a Christian who seeks to follow God’s commands in all areas of his/her life and therefore experiences all the blessings that God wants to put into your life.

God bless and have a great week…

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I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.  Phil 4:11-13 (NIV)

Being content must be easier said than done considering how few people can actually live that way, at least in my society (myself included).  I truly believe that our inability to be “content” generates a tremendous number of problems in our world today.

Have you ever thought or uttered the following (surely you at least know someone who has):  “Sure, my house is fine but my neighbor has a bigger/nicer/newer (fill in the blank) house, patio, pool, car, etc.  What makes my neighbor so special…if he can have one of those, then I deserve one too!  Unfortunately, now that I’ve determined that I need one of those, I don’t have the money to spend to match my neighbor…but I do have a credit card!”  Follow that pattern a couple times and you’ll pretty quickly find yourself in an uncomfortable and ultimately untenable situation.

The alternative to falling into this destructive pattern is, of course, being content with what you have.  Being financially prudent in your purchases can pretty much be summed up in these two simple rules:

1. Make wise purchase decisions based on reality
2. Be content with those purchases

I think we all agree that being smart and then being content will drive us a long way down the path to winning with our finances.  I think we also all agree that a lot of people are not doing that.  Well, most of the rest of this blog is about the first step, so let’s focus on the second step here briefly.

In this week’s verse, Paul tells us that he was able to be content in all manner of circumstances.  Whether he was experiencing a time of want or a time of plenty, he was satisfied (and isn’t it really hard to be satisfied during a time of want that comes after a time of prosperity?).  How did he accomplish this – through the “secret” that he uncovered: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”  “Him,” of course, is Jesus Christ.

Paul’s deep faith in Jesus provided him with real strength to confront those feelings of desire, lust, and envy that strike at us all.  I don’t think Paul is saying that he never experienced those emotions, just that he was imbued with the strength to put them aside and overcome them.  Exercising our faith forces us to shift our focus.  We no longer dwell on us, what we want and need.  Rather, we dwell on God and the eternal.  The “things” that tend to preoccupy us are reclassified as eternally insignificant and therefore no longer hold so much sway over us.

Faith in Jesus Christ provides us with the one thing that we really do need – our eternal salvation.  Shift your focus thusly and you may just see that having the most important thing will reduce your desire for the relatively insignificant ones.

God bless and have a great week..

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And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?  Luke 13:11 (NLT)

I spend too much time thinking about, writing about, and discussing my finances.  You might have the same problem (it’s likely since you are reading a personal finance blog at this very moment!).  My wife often correctly tells me what I should worry less about our finances and trust God more in that area of our life.  Of course, she is correct but I do think that a healthy balance is needed in this area.  In fact, I think this week’s verse underscores the need to be proactive about being a good steward and taking care of your finances.

As it states, if we are “untrustworthy” with our worldly wealth, then we will never be trusted with heavenly riches.  It is therefore not appropriate to simply put our heads in the sand, ignore our finances, spend whatever we want, and then rely on God to make it all balance out at the end of the month (Reminds me of a Tim Hawkins routine: “Father, change the molecular structure of this food, this complete trash we’re about to shove in our gullet.  Change the cheeto into a carrot stick on the way down!”).  Remember that this is Jesus talking in this verse – Jesus Himself is reminding us that we need to be active in managing our finances to prove that we are capable of being entrusted with the “true riches of heaven.”

I would simply caution you not to go overboard and get so focused on money and your finances that they replace God as most important in your life.  Yes, be a good steward and manage your money faithfully, but your main purpose in life should still be to glorify God, not to spend every waking moment reading blogs, fretting about the stock market, and clicking on tweets that contain “get-rich-quick” schemes (oooh, maybe this one is legit)!  Again, accumulating wealth on earth should not be our end goal here;  our main goal is to be faithful to God with our finances to prove we are worthy of being entrusted with the true riches.

God bless and have a great week…

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Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the LORD; and when the LORD heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.  Numbers 11:1 (NASB)

Have you ever been around someone who constantly dwells on what is wrong around them?  No matter what happens, they’re not happy.  Have you ever heard the saying “every cloud has a silver lining?”  Well, these people’s favorite saying seems to be “every silver lining has a dark cloud.”  This is what was happening to the Israelites in this week’s passage.

God had miraculously brought them out of Egypt.  He had freed them from slavery and was leading them to the excellent land that He had promised to them.  He also provided them with food for each day even though they were wandering through wilderness and what-not.

Unfortunately, it just wasn’t good enough for them.  Instead of dwelling on their amazing circumstances of manna failing daily from heaven and God in a pillar of cloud guiding them, they missed Egypt!  They missed the fish they used to “eat free” and the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic.  Would they really rather trade onions and leeks for freedom? (personally I wouldn’t trade a a broken CD for onions but that’s a topic for a different day)

Our situation may not be as extreme (you’re probably not reading this from the wilderness somewhere) but we often tend to fall into discontent and complaining as well.  No matter your current situation, you are most likely better off then the vast majority in this world.  Focus on what you do have not what you don’t and if you do find yourself longing for your Eqypt, be realistic in your memory.  Sure it was nice to have fish each day, but the Israelites obviously forgot about the price they paid to get those meals.  Again, get your focus off of yourself and onto God and others and you may find that your discontent drops considerably.

God bless and have a great week…

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And he said, “This is what the LORD says: Make this valley full of ditches.  For this is what the LORD says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink. 2 Kings 3:16-17 (NIV)

The armies of Judah and Israel were out in the middle of the desert with no water and they were getting scared.  They were on their way to Moab but now they were concerned that they were not even going to make it to the battle.  They inquired of Elisha the prophet and this was the word passed to them from God through Elisha. Obediently, they dug the trenches and one morning they looked and mysteriously saw water coming from Edom and filling up their trenches such that they and their animals had plenty of water to drink.

And just what does this verse have to do with personal finances, you ask?  It’s a verse about “blessing” so bear with me here!  The armies needed to be blessed by God and they were, miraculously.  I’d venture that each of us would welcome a blessing from God (I know I would) whether it be in the area of finances or whatever.  So, let’s examine this passage in more detail.

First we see that the armies were concerned.  They had a big problem and didn’t know how to solve it.  Plus this problem was spilling over into other areas of their lives as they were worried they would be unsuccessful in their battle with their enemy.  Are they any big problems in your life that you don’t know how to solve? Let’s look at the steps they followed in this story:

1. Go to God: Note what they did with their problem – they went down to a prophet of God, Elisha, to find out what God was going to do in this situation.  I think that was definitely the correct decision.  If you’re facing a giant of a problem, remember that God is the biggest giant of them all.

2. Prepare for the blessing: Now the prophet told them to do something strange; he told them to dig a bunch of ditches in the middle of the desert.  This might seem like a pointless exercise to you and it might have seen pointless to them, too….but they did it.  They were obedient to God and dug the ditches.  They had to believe that God was going to give them the blessing and they had to put in some hard work to prepare for it.

The armies dug the ditches and the water came.  There is a bit more to the story though.  When the Moabites woke up they saw reflections off of the water from the early morning sun.  It reflected red so they thought they armies of Judah and Israel and Edom had attacked and killed each other.  The Moabites then rushed out to take the spoil only to be surprised and quickly defeated by the armies.

If you think about it, their biggest concern of having no water and thus losing the battle to Moab actually led to their victory!  They went to God and were obedient to Him.  As a result, their immediate need for water was taken care of and their ultimate need for victory was facilitated through the blessing.  Amazing!

So what exactly does this mean for each of us?  How exactly should we prepare for the blessing from God?  Well, that’s a hard question to answer.  I would guess it would be a very individualized answer for each one of us.  What I do know is that we need to take our concerns to God with the assurance that he cares for us and will bless us.

God bless (prepare for it!) and have a great week…

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Listen to this, you who rob the poor and trample down the needy!  You can’t wait for the Sabbath day to be over and the religious festivals to end so you can get back to cheating the helpless.  You measure out grain with dishonest measures and cheat the buyer with dishonest scales. And you mix the grain you sell with chaff swept from the floor.  Then you enslave poor people for one piece of silver or a pair of sandals. Now the Lord has sworn this oath by his own name, the Pride of Israel^: “I will never forget the wicked things you have done!”  Amos 8:4-7 (NLT)

Wow, this is a pretty harsh word from God today (Amos is not exactly the cheeriest book in the Bible) – He will never forget the “wicked things” being done.  Of course, it is quite obvious that this is not the proper way to act – robbing the poor, trampling down the needy, cheating the buyer, enslaving the poor – yeah, not a great way to get on God’s good side.

What really struck me about this passage, however, is what is found in the beginning of verse 5.  The people couldn’t wait for the Sabbath to end or the religious festivals to conclude so they could get back to lying, cheating, and stealing.  That means that they were observing the Sabbath and the religious festivals!  They cared so little about their fellow man, yet they observed God’s commandments regarding the Sabbath and the festivals.  Certainly God saw right through this charade to their true character and, as it says, He would “never forget” their wickedness.

I think this is a cautionary tale relevant for our lives today as well.  This is yet another example from the Bible where the desire for monetary gain leads to sin.  Does that desire for money drive us to do things we know we should not?  Are we compartmentalizing our lives to such an extent that we could be guilty of attending church on Sunday morning and Wednesday evening but spending the remainder of the week cheating those around us for financial gain?  If so, God is not impressed by our feeble attempts to placate him by doing the whole church thing.  Remember, God doesn’t want us to “do church” He wants to us to “be the church.”  God’s church is not a building – it’s His people.

God bless and have a great week being the church…

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You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor. And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why? Because my house lies in ruins, says the LORD Almighty, while you are all busy building your own fine houses.  Haggai 1:9 (NLT)

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to be blessed financially more than you?  Certainly there are myriad possible reasons for this (including maybe you are just greedy and your dearth of blessing is just in your imagination to maybe you are just greedy and God knows you would not be able to properly handle large finances).  Seriously, there are a bunch of different possibilities – too many to list in this post. This verse from Haggai, however, might explain one reason for a lack of financial blessing.

Personally, I see the theme of priorities running throughout the Bible.  As far as priority number one in our lives, that should belong to God!  We see here in this verse from Haggai that the people had gotten their priorities all out of whack.  They had been spending time and money building their “paneled houses” while the Lord’s house remained in ruins.  As we can see, God did not take kindly to that flipping of priorities and eventually diminished their harvests and blessings in order to get their attention.

Reflect on your own life and your priorities therein.  Are you mixing up your list of priorities?  Are you devoting too much of your time to pursuing your own selfish desires rather than pursuing God?  Are you giving of your firstfruits to God’s kingdom or what little is left at the end of the month?  If you don’t feel like you are experiencing God’s “abundant life,” maybe it is because those priorities are not lined up with God’s – just something to ponder.

God bless and have a great week…

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For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 (NLT)

A few days ago, we remembered Good Friday, the day Jesus was crucified and died for each of our sins about two-thousand years ago.  On that day, I shared with you the first part of Romans 6:23 reminding us all that our sin produces eternal separation from God.  Yesterday, we celebrated Easter – the day that Jesus defeated death and actually rose from his grave!  Easter enables me to share the rest of the story, as it were.  Yes, it is true that sin produces death, but Jesus has overcome this.  Now, it is also true that God, though Jesus, has provided for us the free gift of eternal life with God in heaven!

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9 (NLT)

Of course, you have to receive a gift and Romans 10:9 tells us how to do that.  While it is true that God provides us this free gift, it is still remarkably hard for some to simply accept it.  I think this second verse tells us why – because you have to confess that Jesus is Lord and our pride typically makes is very hard to do this.  Dictionary.com shows the definition of lord as “a person who has authority, control, or power over others; a master, chief, or ruler.”  It is very difficult for a person to cede that authority and control to someone else, even if it is God.  Thus many people end up “doing” stuff to gain God’s favor so that they can earn eternal life.  They want the life, they just also want the control.  Unfortunately, you can’t have both.

Furthermore, you also have to believe that God raised Jesus from the dead which is certainly a fantastic claim.  Getting into the details of all the claims against and evidence for the resurrection is a discussion for another forum.  Personally, I do believe that it did occur and that it was an amazing, supernatural, out-of-the-ordinary event.  Then again, is a God worthy of worship and praise if He can’t accomplish the fantastic supernatural every once in a while?

I leave you with what I found to be a very profound quote that speaks directly to this topic:

“The evidence for Jesus’ resurrection is so strong that nobody would question it except for two things: First, it is a very unusual event.  And second, if you believe it happened, you have to change the way you live.”  Wolfhart Pannenberg

God bless, accept the Gift, and have a great week…

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For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.  Romans 3:23 (NLT)

For the wages of sin is death Romans 6:23a (NLT)

If you look at the story painted by these two Bible verses, it is not a pretty one.  First, “everyone” sins.  Everyone.  Not only that guy sitting in prison, but also me.  Also you!  We all fall short of the standard that God has set for his creation.

So we all sin, so what?  So, our just reward for sin is death, that’s what!  Everyone dies, so what does “death” mean in this verse.  Death means eternal separation from God.  You may have heard it referred to as “the second death.”  Everyone dies here on earth where we proceed to heavenly judgment.  If you fall short of the mark there, then you’re in real trouble and you get to experience the rest of eternity absent from God.

Remember, the earth right now is a fallen place, it is messed up because of Adam’s original sin; this is not the way things were meant to be.  That being said, the world still has people in it who love God, people who are imbued by the Holy Spirit.  God still works in this world.  And if you think our world is bad now, can you imagine what a place would be like that is completely separated from God or any of His influence?

Today we remember the day that Jesus was crucified.  It was maybe the darkest day in the history of creation.  It happened in part because of the two verses above.

To be continued…

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For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. 2 Corinthians 8:3-4 (NIV)

Wow, what a verse, what a story!  This is basically the opposite of what we see in Malachi 3 where God is rebuking his children for not giving their entire tithe to Him.  Yes, we see quite the opposite here as the Macedonian churches gave not only all that they were able, but even more than that! The idea of “giving more than one is able” immediately brings two questions to my mind: what does that mean and do people do that here in America 2010?

What does it mean to give beyond one’s ability?  I think it means that you create your budget (or spending plan for my “budget-averse” readers) allocating your giving first, and then balancing the rest of it.  You make sure that you give enough, save enough, and have enough to pay all your other bills and do what you plan to do that month.  Then you give more! (What?! That’s crazy talk!)  You give more than your budget says that you are able.  The numbers no longer add up to zero at the bottom of your painstakingly crafted, previously beautifully balanced budget.

Then you wait…

You wait to see what God is going to do with the extra you’ve given to Him.  You wait to see what God is going to do with you.  You may recall a recent Weekly Bible Verse where I discussed that God promises to meet your needs.  So you wait to see how God will meet your needs this month.  Maybe He blesses you with opportunities that you had not even considered.  Maybe he opens you to contentment and teaches you that your actual “needs” are less than you originally thought they were.  I do not know and I’m sure it is different for each person who boldly attempts this.

Do people actually do this?

That’s what it means to give more than one is able to…so onto my second question.  Do people do this today in our affluent societies?  I honestly do not know.  Considering that statistics show that very few Christians actually tithe (give 10%), I would guess that the number of those that give beyond their ability is quite minuscule.  I’m sure some people do it, but I would guess not many.  Do you?  Why not?

God bless and have a great week…

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Honor the LORD with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase. Proverbs 3:9 (NKJV)

This week’s verse ventures into the realm of giving.  Don’t worry, I’m not going to get into a discussion regarding how much of his/her income a Christian should be giving (not today at least).  I do want to point out the importance of giving your best to the Lord, however.

As Christians, we are required to honor the Lord with the “firstfruits” of all our increase.  “Firstfruits” seems like an interesting word, so let’s take a look at it.  According to NETBible.org, “firstfruits” is defined as “first, beginning, best, chief.”  Of course, you ask, “What in the world does that have to do with me?  I’m not giving sheep or crops to God, I’m giving money.  How do I determine which of my money counts as ‘firstfruits?’”  Well, that’s a good question and I agree that it doesn’t have the same connotation as when this verse was originally written… but that doesn’t mean it’s not still relevant today.

I think that we are still required to give God our “first” and “best.”  To me, giving our first simply means giving to God first; it means giving to God off the top of our stack of money.  In other words, don’t give God what is left over (if anything) at the end of the month (”sorry God, that was an expensive trip to Wal-Mart last week so I don’t have anything left for you this month” – read that sentence out loud and listen to how it completely trivializes God).  Instead, give to God first.  Practically, you decide how much money you are going to give to God beforehand and then you make sure that happens.  You give it before you pay any bills, or invest, or go to the movies, or buy gifts, or anything else!  If you can’t afford to do everything you want to do in a certain month, you absolutely ensure that your giving is not what falls below the line and doesn’t get accomplished.

Some people might say, “I can’t afford to give money to God.”  I’d counter that you probably can’t afford not to give to God.  Remember last week’s verse – the one about God supplying your needs? Let’s get real here – are you putting your trust in God (omnipotent creator of the universe) or the money you have in your pocket?  Don’t fret about being able to afford giving to God, go ahead and give your best to God (time, money, effort, etc) and God will meet your needs.

God bless and have a great week…

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And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:19 (NASB)

If I were to be honest, I would have to admit that I spend too much of my time thinking about money.  I worry about money way too much; maybe you do as well.  If so, this week’s verse will hopefully serve as a beneficial reminder for both of us. Right there in the Bible it clearly states that God will supply our needs.  If I could get that through my thick skull, I might have a lot of extra time on my hands.

Let’s delve a bit further into this verse.  First, we see that we have to do our part in order to have God do His part.  This is evidenced by the “in Christ Jesus” phrase.  What’s our part then?  We have to be “in Christ Jesus.”  This verse then does not promise to supply everyone’s needs; just those that worship God and rely on Jesus Christ for eternal salvation.  Another part of this equation is that we must be being obedient to God.  If are continually sinning with no remorse and thumbing our nose at God, He’s not necessarily going to meet our needs.

There is one final caveat I’d like to point out today – the verse clearly states that God will supply our “needs.”  Therefore, you need to know the difference between a need and a want.  Actually, you need to know the difference as God would define it.  One of those parenting moments when I really felt like I was getting through to my kids was when I overheard my 5 year-old son telling his 7 year-old sister, “you don’t need it, you just want it!”  (should I be embarrassed to say that was one of my proudest moments as a father?)

Of course, if you want to relieve some burden of worry about money and meeting your own needs, you have to ensure that the one agreeing to meet your needs for you is capable of producing.  Clearly God can accomplish this.  Remember that we must rely on Jesus for our eternal salvation.  I would venture that justifying sinners like you and me with all the wrong we’ve done over the course of our lives is the hard part.  If God can do that, providing for our basic needs certainly is a trivial task for Him.

God bless and have great week…

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I have riches and honor, as well as enduring wealth and justice.  My gifts are better than gold, even the purest gold, my wages better than sterling silver!  I walk in righteousness, in paths of justice.  Those who love me inherit wealth. I will fill their treasuries.  Proverbs 8:18-21 (NLT)

I spend a significant amount of time here discussing money, topics such as how to get it, how to keep it, how best to use it, and so on (this is a personal finance blog after all!).  This week’s Bible verse refocuses us on the true source of all of this wealth that I and so many other people devote countless hours to.

God possesses not only riches, but also honor, not only wealth, but also justice.  His gifts are ever better than the purest gold and sterling silver.  Personally, I like the sound of all of that.  So, let’s keep reading and see that “those who love” God will inherit this wealth from Him.  In fact, he will fill your treasuries.  Remember, God created and owns everything, if you decides to fill your treasuries, you won’t be able to contain all of His blessings!

Now maybe this isn’t specifically speaking of wealth as in money.  Certainly, you might read “enduring wealth” as not being money since wealth is so fleeting.  Whatever He is speaking of in this passage, however, it is good and I want some of it!  Enduring wealth, justice, and gifts that are better than gold – I would definitely love to inherit that (wouldn’t you?).  Whether this is a strictly monetary blessing or something different (better?), focus on God, love God, worship God, serve God so that you can inherit what He has in store for you.  And whether that is a big pile of money to use for His Kingdom or a contented spirit such that you are just completely satisfied and happy with your life, it will be enduring and it will be good!

God bless and have a great week…

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Do you want to be truly rich? You already are if you are happy and good. After all, we didn’t bring any money with us when we came into the world, and we can’t carry away a single penny when we die. So we should be well satisfied without money if we have enough food and clothing.  1 Timothy 6:6-8 (LB)

I thought of the meaning of being “truly rich” often this past weekend as I drove to North Carolina with a college friend for the visitation of another college friend who died suddenly and quite unexpectedly last week.  Now I may be old but I am certainly not old enough that my friends should be passing away from cardiac problems!  My friend was a wonderful woman who leaves behind a husband, a three-year old, and a two-week old baby!

Times like this, of course, force you to reflect on your own life.  I spend a lot of time thinking about, reading about, and talking about money and finances.  So, naturally, when I reflect on life, I think of concepts like being “truly rich” as this verse in Timothy explains.  You are truly rich if you are happy and good.  In other versions, the word “contentment” is used.  If you are content with what you have (be it a little or a lot), if you are happy with your family and friends, then you are rich!

I was reminded again this past weekend that life is short and that you should never take anything for granted.  I urge you this week (and this is a reminder for me as well) to focus on what is really important in life.  As it says above, you “can’t carry away a single penny when you die,” so spend your time working for the things that endure – namely kingdom works, relationships, memories, and the like.  Maybe we should focus a little more on being truly rich and a little less on being monetarily rich as we go forward.

God bless and have a great week..

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Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honour and life.  Proverbs 22:4 (NIV)

So the latest get rich quick scheme of using Twitter to send out tweets about selling an e-book that shows other people how to get rich by sending out tweets about selling an e-book is maybe not the best way to ensure wealth? (note to self: cross that off  todo list)

In fact, according to Proverbs 22:4, you can acquire not only wealth but also honor and life by following this piece of advice (even if you can acquire some wealth by sending out those tweets, I can pretty much guarantee you that path won’t lead to honor for you!).  So how do you get acquire all this, you ask?  The answer is through “humility” and “fear of the Lord.”

Maybe that’s not the answer you were looking for?  It certainly falls about 180 degrees from the manner to achieve wealth and honor preached by our society.  No, the world tells us that we need to be hard-charging, to work longer hours than everyone else, to devote ourselves to our work above all else in life, and certainly not to ever be humble about anything!  Are you surprised that’s not the exact path laid out by the Bible?

In contrast, what the Bible is telling us is to devote ourselves to God above all else and to rely on Him to provide us a path to wealth.  Now, I’m not a Biblical scholar, but from what I can tell this isn’t a case of the word for “wealth” actually meaning something possibly more nebulous like “prosperity.”  It appears to be used in the Bible to mean actual “riches” and “wealth.”  That notwithstanding, please don’t skip over the other two words in this verse – especially the last.  I would argue that “Life” is much more valuable than money.

So, humbling yourself before God, having that healthy respect/fear for Him,  devoting yourself to His purpose, relying on Him, that brings you not only wealth and honor but also life?  Yes, please – sign me up for that!

God bless and have a great week…

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Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.  Proverbs 19:21 (NIV)

I have lots of ideas (most of them collected in a huge and therefore virtually indecipherable mind map) and I’m sure you have many as well.  They run the gamut from being pretty good, well-formed ideas all the way to pie-in-the-sky, no-way-I-could-make-that-happen ones!  The most important aspect of planning for my ideas, though, is something that I don’t have much control over actually.  As stated, God’s purpose is what will prevail.

Previously, I discussed the importance of planning and committing your works to the Lord. And today’s verse builds on top of what I discussed in that post.  I previously stated that the purpose of committing your plans to God was not to convince God that we have a great idea so that He agrees to bless it.  Rather, it was to get yourself in line with what God wants you to do.

Today’s verse further underscores the importance of aligning yourself with God.  Why waste your time by running off on your own attempting to pursue that which is not God’s purpose?  Go through the process of committing your plans to God and discover whether you should pursue your ideas or abandon them and move on to something more worthwhile.  And it’s a win-win since you’ll be a better person as a result of going through the process!

God bless and have a great week…

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For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  Psalm 139:13 (NIV)

Wait – what does that have to do with personal finances?  On the surface, nothing, I guess.  But I’m going to use it to celebrate the birth of my fourth child!!  My wife gave birth to our third daughter last week and we are so excited to welcome her and her chubby cheeks into the world!  (It’s also the main reason there haven’t been that many posts here at BFN lately)

Now, sure this does have personal finance ramifications.  For instance, it’s another mouth to feed, more clothes to buy, more diapers, wipes, etc.  On the other hand, we do get another exemption on our tax return.  Of course, all of that is trumped by the big ticket items such as medical bills, health insurance, college tuition, a wedding some day, and so on and so forth.

But I’m not worrying about any of that right now.  Allow me to share a bonus verse with you:

Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.  Psalm 127:3 (NASB)

A gift from God?  A reward from Him?  I like the sound of that!  I’ll worry about all the financial changes later (to be honest, these are the reasons we’ve been saving up and why we created an emergency fund in the first place) but right now, when I look upon her chubby cheeks and perfect round little face as she sleeps contentedly, I wholeheartedly agree with Psalm 127:3: she truly is a gift from God!

God bless and have a great week…

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In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has. Proverbs 21:20 (NIV)

Once again we see how extremely practical the Bible turns out to be in its wisdom and advice.  Why should we save some of our income and resources each month?  Is this something we really need to worry about?  Of course, most people would probably say it’s a good idea to save (though saying it and doing it appear to be two very different things in our society nowadays!).  Now we see that this is much more than just simple common sense, rather it is Biblical wisdom!

Depending on the circles that you run in, you might have heard it said that you should not “presume” upon God (that usually means you shouldn’t go into more and more debt assuming that God will bail you out of whatever money problems you bring upon yourself).  Maybe you know it as the story of Joseph shielding Egypt from seven years of famine.  Quite possibly images of Dave Ramsey railing about the importance of an emergency fund run through your head.  Maybe thoughts of your Grandmother’s advice to save up for a rainy day come to mind.  Or you might have read it to your kids as the fable of the ant and the grasshopper.  However you heard it, it means the same thing and it comes from the Bible – wise people do not “devour” all they have, instead they save up for their future needs (to keep Murphy from moving in your spare bedroom as Ramsey might say).

God bless and have a great week…

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The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.  Proverbs 21:5 (NIV)

Though it seems fairly straightforward, I did find this week’s Bible verse to be an interesting one.  Of course it underscores the importance of taking your time and planning ahead.  It states that being a diligent planner will lead you to success.  Now I certainly consider seeking God’s wisdom and direction when constructing your plans to be an integral part of that diligent planning process.

So, what is so interesting about this verse?  Well, I misread it the first time I looked at it.  As you read through the book of Proverbs, you see a number of verses related to being lazy or a sluggard.  And when I first read this verse, I read it not as being hasty but as being lazy.  But it does not say that being lazy leads to poverty (though I’m sure it does somewhere else); rather it says that being hasty leads down that path.  The lesson is that even though you might try really hard and exert great effort, the fact that you are being hasty, rushing onward, and not taking the necessary time for planning will still lead to failure.  (no, you don’t find it as interesting as I do?)

So, take your time, do your planning, and make sure a significant portion of that planning is seeking God’s will and direction.  Interesting or not, that is good advice to remember.

God bless and have a great week…

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For wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.  Proverbs 8:11 (NIV)

Of course, rubies, or “jewels” in other translations, are valuable and worth a lot of money.  Yet the book of Proverbs teaches us that wisdom is even more precious that these jewels.  In fact, this verse goes on to say that nothing you desire compares with wisdom.  That’s a pretty bold statement – nothing compares with wisdom?  Not money, gold, silver, diamonds, <insert desirable item here>…nothing.

It’s also a pretty simple and straightforward statement so let’s delve beneath surface a bit…why is wisdom more precious?  For one thing, money is fleeting – you spend it and it’s gone.  By contrast, wisdom you are able to keep a lifetime and even sharing it with others will not diminish your quantity of wisdom.  You still need money to eat and buy clothes and shelter however, so take this one start further and consider that possessing wisdom does enable you to gain money.  In fact, I would argue that it enables you to gain a lot more money compared to someone without much wisdom.  Possessing and using wisdom can lead you to more and better relationships, more opportunities, great ability to capitalize on those opportunities, and so on and so forth.

So, maybe wisdom does exactly not equal money in your hand, but it seems to lead to a more fulfilling, less stressful life, and more financially stable (maybe even prosperous) life down the road.

God bless and have a great week…

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