Guest Post by Valentina Wilson on financial tips for Christian moms. Learn the importance of financial stewardship.
You are a mom, a guiding angel of a family. God has conferred all managing powers on you and you are making use of it quite skillfully. You are handling everything from household chores to your job responsibilities. And in the midst of such responsibilities, finance is deeply and directly involved in your life.
So, how’s your financial life going? Tough! Don’t worry! Perceive some knowledge of what the Bible says about money and the best ways to handle it.
What does the Bible say about money?
Why do we need money? A simple answer is to meet needs and wants. Is it so? Nope, somewhere we get accustomed to relishing that feeling of desire for more money. Why is it so? Because we often get tempted by the devil or fleshly desires, just as it tempted
Adam and Eve to taste the forbidden fruit. For disobeying God, sin and death, in the form of a curse, entered the world which is known as “the fall of man” in Christian theology.
Likewise, extreme desire for money leads us to a world full of darkness. There is a light of words inscribed in our Holy Bible to show us the right path through the darkness.
Let’s see what the Bible says about money.
Money is a blessing from God
Adam and Eve got rewarded with juicy and tasty fruit in return of putting labor in tending the garden. Likewise, we, human beings, are gifted with money as a reward of toil.
Money is a blessing in the sense of making ends meet and sustaining our and our dear ones’ lives. The Bible says that money in the form of God’s blessing is the result of honesty, hard work, and wisdom.
As the Proverbs 10:4 says,
“The slothful hand hath wrought poverty: but the hand of the industrious getteth riches. He that trusteth to lies feedeth the winds: and the same runneth after birds that fly away.”
Money is the root of temptation
Money can be a blessing to some extent but it can be a grave temptation too. Because it buys us comfort, power, luxury, fun, fulfillment, and so on.
It makes promises to lead us into the happy world which is nothing but false. Happiness lies in living a worry-free life but money gifts us anxiety and insecurity of losing the power, comfort, and security.
To retain power, comfort, luxury, and security, we strive to own more money that leads us to destruction. We get ditched by money. Seriously!? We get ditched or we ditch ourselves by pushing ourselves to temptation! Actually, we are liable for our situation.
“Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.” [Ecclesiastes 5:10]
Money is a manipulating master
When people start running after materialistic things, they automatically tend to crave for more money to satisfy their desires and wants. So, what does it imply? If you don’t have enough money, you can’t buy your most desired things.
So, the money will become the only thing for you that can buy you happiness. You will go after it by neglecting your health, loved ones, and the ultimate peace.
Somewhere money is controlling you by ruling over you and guiding you on what to follow and what not.
As Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” [ Matthew 6:21].
So, it implies that the more you want to possess money, the more it will grasp you.
4 Financial Tips for Christian Moms
To manage a family along with raising kids needs a strong will power and patience. A Christian mom always possesses such qualities as she nurtures good morals and ethics and also passes them to her children. Being a mom is tough, as you have to manage finances too, and managing finances need effective planning.
Take into account the following tips to manage your finances well.
1. Offer to God first
At first, you’ll have to realize that managing money is a kind of spiritual activity. Jesus also discussed managing money. He taught that we need to invest out resources for financial security. He also said that we need to use our material possessions to meet the essential needs of our family. (Matthew 7:7-12; Mark 7:9-13; compare 1 Timothy 5:8 and 2 Thessalonians 3:7-10).
As per Jesus, our attitude towards money is very important as it reflects our attitude towards God.
As a Christian mom, your first priority whether it’s financial or other should be God. Follow Matthew 6:31-33 that says, “So do not worry saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘ What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
The Bible says that you should give a portion of your earnings to other people who need it.
Giving a tithe or one-tenth of our income back to God is mentioned in the Bible. As you can see what Luke 6:30 says, “Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back.”
The Bible also says that you should offer to God within your means as Paul stated in 1 Corinthians 16:2, “On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.”
2. Follow a budget
Throughout the Bible, you will see a lot of important principles on how to deal with life. Such principles also include how to manage finances in everyday life. Look at scripture to find out what it says, “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to want.” (Proverbs 21:5)
Follow some important ways to create a Christian budget for your family:
- When it is about budgeting, plan it together with your spouse. If your children are grown up, include them too. This way, they’ll also learn basic money management skills.
- Know the actual income that will include your and your husband’s earnings. Don’t forget to add the side incomes to get your actual income.
- To develop a budget, it is essential to track your expenses. If you and your husband lead separate financial lives, it is important to have ideas of each other’s expenses.
- Figure out the differences between your needs and wants. Focus on basic needs like food, clothing, shelter, utilities, and transportation. As it’s a Christian budget, don’t forget to give God first.
“Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds; for riches do not last forever; and does a crown endure to all generations? When the grass is gone and the new growth appears and the vegetation of mountains is gathered, the lambs will provide your clothing, and the goats the price of a field. There will be enough goats’ milk for your food, for the food of your household and maintenance for your girls.” [Proverbs 27:23-27]
3. Focus on savings
After budgeting, it comes savings and to save a certain amount it requires setting goals that include SMART tool which is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound. The goals to save money can be for emergency funds, child education funds, retirement funds, buying a home or car, etc. These goals will prevent you from spending extra and in turn falling into debt.
You can save a considerable amount of money by following some ways:
- Calculate your expenses.
- Create a budget and follow it.
- Try to save 10-15% of your income.
- Choose a short term (1-3 years) and long term (4+ years) goal.
- Opt for the right saving options. For short term, you can choose FDIC-insured deposit accounts like a savings account or a Certificate of deposit (CD) and for the long term, you can consider using FDIC-insured individual retirement accounts (IRAs) or securities like stocks or mutual funds.
- Make your saving automatic.
Look at 1 Corinthians 16:2, “ On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.”
4. Get out of debt
“The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is a slave to the lender.” [Proverbs 22:7]
When you are in debt, your mind will be occupied with the thoughts of repaying debts. And automatically your lender will be your master. As per Christianity, you can’t serve two masters at a time. So, while you’re paying back debts, you are serving your lender and ignoring God, the prime master. As a result, you cannot serve God wholeheartedly.
You can get out of debt by using Christian debt consolidation. It will help you to consolidate debts into one single monthly payment at a lower interest rate.
Christian debt consolidation acts similar to traditional debt consolidation. In a debt consolidation program, the consolidation company will take necessary steps to reduce the interest rate and combine multiple debts into one. You just have to pay that decided monthly amount and the company will disburse them among your creditors till your debts are fully paid off.
You can follow the below tips to stay away from credit card debt:
- Build and maintain an emergency fund.
- Buy only those things that you can afford.
- Set an alarm to make credit card payments.
- Each month pay your balance in full.
- Understand the terms of your credit card.
- Set limit on using your credit cards.
So, these are all you have to know and follow as well to live a well-balanced financial life. These tips are not from me but from Jesus to guide mankind for a better way of life. As said before, managing money is connected to spirituality. Therefore, once you achieve the skill of handling money, you are on the way of releasing God’s angel’s in your life. You will have faith in God, intimacy with God, an active prayer life led by the holy spirit.
So, keep faith in God and follow his ways to live a peaceful life all over!!!
About the Author
Valentina Wilson is a personal financial blogger. She loves to analyze personal financial matters and help others manage their finances in a better way. Traveling is also her passion. She loves to travel and explore different places all by herself. To connect with her, go to Twitter @Valenti11423079, or visitBestdebtconsolidation.org.
Melissa Tumino
Melissa is a passionate minister, speaker and an ongoing learner of the Bible. She has been involved in church and vocational ministry for over 18 years. And is the founder of Think About Such Things. She has the heart to equip the saints by helping them get into the Word of God and fall more in love with Jesus. She also enjoys family, cooking, and reading.
She has spoken in churches in California, Oregon, Texas, and Mexico and has been featured in Guidepost Magazine and All Recipes Magazine. Read More…
