Financial Planning and the Christain Life

Mrs PJ and I have a definite financial plan. I trust God, but also believe He has given me a freedom of the will which I should exercise with Godly prudence.

Our financial goals, long term, exist so we can continue to support missions and grow the Kingdom of God while being responsible managers (i.e. stewards) of what God has given us to grow. It seems to me that too many of Christ's parables are concerned with growing and investing than not.

 

Financial rules of life

Here is my list of financial rules of life:

1 Tithe
2 Save the next 10% or more ... invest if you know what you are doing
3 Live beneath your means
4 Never go into debt for anything that depreciates in value


The point of saving and investing is not just for your own use, but also so that you can help others in need that God brings into your life.

 

I had this awesome financial plan when I got out of high school and went into college. All the bills were paid on time and I had savings and everything and then I got married and my perfect credit was ran over for the most part like a steamroller. Now I am lucky if my check covers all the bills plus the groceries. There are weeks I dont make my 10% in my tithe. Yeah its a great concept to be married and have that cushion so you can save but once the marriage went south so did the finances, which can be very frustrating. Me and the kids have given up almost every luxury we had just to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table, and to attempt most weeks to pay all or some part of our tithe. I keep hearing God will supply well me and the kids are waiting.... until then I will continue to use my 401K as I need to as well as all of my savings to keep current on the bills in our home. The only extravagance we have in our home is cable the rest is gas and electric and rent.

 

Yeah and heres the thing..Malachi 3:8 Wow that verse just so speaks to me about tithing. Thats why I tithe the guilt of robbing God would just kill me. Just my point.

 

Yep, the same type of unlearned people teach this from the pulpit. Study the tithe, don't take some ignorant person's word for it. The tithe was never money and never for christians. Oh, BTW, track back from 3:8 and see who God was talking to. It was the priests.

 

I've found the following site useful for a healthy view of biblical finances.

Generous Giving

Here is their response to the 10% figure.

 

That site agrees with your view. I only quoted one answer from one of several hundred questions they have about giving, many with references to scripture.

This quote is probably more of what you were looking for but I felt other posts already addressed that point.

 

When ever I start thinking about my financial future, I always remember......
Matthew 6:34
“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day [is] the evil thereof.”

 

I agree that financial planning is good from a worldly perspective. We just don't have the faith that the early Christians had. I don't think Jesus would have thought it was very important either.

Mat 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Mat 6:27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
Mat 6:28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
Mat 6:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Mat 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, [shall he] not much more [clothe] you, O ye of little faith?
Mat 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
Mat 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Mat 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day [is] the evil thereof.

 

Leaving aside any dispensational aspects which may apply to Matthew 6, it seems that those verses have more to do with WORRYING about those things, and not so much against planning.

Someone has already pointed out that investment figures quite a bit in Jesus' parables, and it is almost always looked upon in a favorable light.

I think it is good to plan for retirement, make your money grow through investments if possible, etc., and I try to do so. When my children were younger, I had life insurance enough to get them through to adulthood if I died. I don't consider that worrying about money, or making it my god, or being covetous - it's just planning.

If a man departs life early and leaves a destitute widow, SHE is going to be the one worrying about money. I've seen it all too many times.

Flame away, Brethren!

 

Once again, I think we have to balance our worldly obligations with the Bible's teachings but this verse is pretty clear to me.

Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

This isn't saying anything about worry. It's talking about trusting in God. Certainly this was the kind of life that Jesus and His disciples led.

 

Our highest obligation in this life is glorify God.

Part of glorifying God is being a good steward of what he has given us to manage. If we simply manage day-to-day and forget to plan for the next week, month, year, and so forth we fail to be sound managers.

I know my family won't regret the financial planning we are currently practicing now in 40 years.

 

I'm going to change my previous position. I believe that God primarily relies on Christians to do His work on earth not because He couldn't do it all but because it helps Christians grow. I also believe that we as believers have a responsibility for helping the poor. I think that this responsibility extends to our own family.