“…may God give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him”
Ephesians 1:17 (ESV)
Living a life of freedom in Christ must manifest beyond the spiritual to include good stewardship of our household finances. Poverty must not be calling at our back door, as we learn from the account in 2 Kings 4:1-7 where one of the ‘sons’ of the prophet Elisha died in debt (a modern-day reality of his wife faced with mortgage, car payments, utility, and credit card bills way overdue).
She would have gone from paycheck to paycheck to ‘no-check.’ In our own situation, we could be asking God why the promise of abundance (Malachi 3:10 and 2 Corinthians 9:8-10) does not seem to apply to us.
God is cautioning us today to avoid walking in self-prophesied poverty by disobedience to His financial tips. “May God give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Ephesians 1:17).
God wants us to thrive in every good work by recognising some root causes of poverty:
- Limiting our focus to faith only and spiritual disciplines (i.e. failing to apply God’s Word, which demands that faith and work operate in unison – James 2:17).
- Only associating money with greed, corruption, and evil (e.g. misinterpreting Scripture to equate money with evil when it is the ‘love of money’ rather than God, which is evil – 1 Timothy 6:10).
- Removing money from God’s domain (e.g. tithing our 10% and not seeing that the 90% is also God’s resources to be stewarded well).
- Failing to teach our children about wealth creation and money management.
We must remember that God is the creator of everything (Psalm 24:1, Colossians 1:16); hence He owns the tithe – 10% and the 90%. A great way to honour Him is by applying the 3 x 30 rule to the stewardship of our 90%:
- Budget 30% to savings/investments
- Budget 30% to home ownership (or rental until you can own) and utilities
- Budget 30% for food/family expenses
We were redeemed to live a life bountiful in Christ. Glorify Him with your possessions, and know that God is infinitely better than the things He has given to us (Psalm 100:5). Live a life of freedom in Christ.
Read: Psalm 34:19; Proverbs 15:7
Bible Reading Guide: Proverbs 10:21-30; Luke 23:26-56; Joshua 9:16-27; Joshua 10
Amen