Keep the Change: Managing Your Money Wisely Sample

Money is one of those topics that’s awkward to talk about. It carries all this baggage from our childhoods, and it’s not exactly a favorite choice for casual conversation. So it’s tempting to tune out money talk, pretend it doesn’t matter, or feel flustered and sweaty when it gets brought up. But money matters. In fact, Jesus talked about money way more than you’d expect during His time on earth. 

Now Jesus didn’t talk about money because money itself is that important. Money is a tool or a resource that shows us what we value. We can be intentional about using our money in ways that honor God, or we can choose to ignore God in the way we allocate it.

That’s direct. But Jesus was pretty direct about money, too. 

There was that time he told a wealthy young ruler that his next step to fully following Jesus was selling all of his stuff. There was that other time he told the parable about a guy who harvested so much that he built extra barns to store it all, only to die the next day. And then there was Jesus’ story of three people who got bags of money: One guy didn’t use his wisely, so he was called a wicked and lazy servant, and he had to give his money to the one who had invested well.

And in one of his most direct quotes about money, Jesus said: 

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.” Matthew 6:24 NLT

The love of money is often the number one competitor for our obedience to God. 

 Let’s be clear: Money itself is neutral. It’s not like money is this sneaky enemy we have to tiptoe around. The wealthy young ruler wasn’t asked to sell everything because having money is wrong. He was asked to sell everything because his stuff had taken over his heart. And the guy who stored up all his resources wasn’t wrong to make plans. But he put his trust in his preparation instead of God’s provision.

It’s okay to have money. But when we start loving money more than we care about loving God and others, we’ve got a problem. The way we spend our money says the most about what we care about, so it’s worth regularly asking questions like: 

• Is the way I’m spending my money a good representation of my faith? 
• Do my most recent purchases reflect things I value? 
• How well am I doing at managing the resources God has given me? 

Those are some tough questions, but we’re not left to figure them out on our own. We can ask God for wisdom in our finances, and we can consult other trusted friends, leaders, or mentors for help. 

Over the next few days, we’re going to explore how to approach our money in ways that honor God. Through personal stories and experiences, we’ll discover how to steward our finances well, why the best financial advice is creating an abundance mindset, and ways to worry less about our money.