Raising Money-Wise Kids: A Parent's Guide to Biblical Money Valuesنموونە

Hey friend!

For the next three days we’re going to take an in-depth look at how to teach our children about finances.

To begin, we have to make sure they start on a solid foundation. And here are four key principles that'll help guide us as we teach our kids about managing their money.

1. God owns everything.

The Bible tells us, "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it" (Psalm 24:1). This means we're not the real owners of anything - even our wealth; we're just stewards.

God has entrusted us with some of His assets and we should ultimately seek Him for how it should be used.

2: We have a responsibility to handle money wisely.

The truth is we're managers of God's resources and we don’t actually own anything.

Therefore, we have a responsibility to handle money wisely.

3: We must learn to be content.

Our default is to want more more more! And our world is always telling us we need more.

But the Truth of God’s Word reminds us in 1 Timothy 6:6-8, "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.”

In our house, we are actively teaching our children to find contentment in God, rather than things.

4: Money isn’t evil, but loving it is dangerous.

While money itself isn't evil, loving it can lead us down a dangerous path.

1 Timothy 6:9-10 warns, "Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil."

We have found the only way to stop loving money is to love God more.

There are many ways to cultivate this in your children, but an easy way is to share the needs on God’s heart and show our kids we can use our money to solve a problem that makes God’s heart sad.

I’ll never forget walking into the office of an international ministry where there was a picture of a malnourished child on the wall. At first I hesitated because it was a brutal reality.

But then, one of the leaders started telling my children how this child was so sick and almost died, but the relief they provided was able to save the child’s life and bring them to health and show the corresponding pictures to that as well!

Our 5-year-old daughter was impacted so much by this that it is a consistent topic of conversation. She wants to make sure we are still giving to save other children in that situation.

It was a life-changing moment for her to stop focusing on herself and start focusing on what God wants.

Tomorrow we'll explore practical lessons for teaching our little ones about earning, saving, giving, and spending.

See you there!