It’s My Money – You Can Have Some of It
Matt Dawson
How many of you (that are parents) hesitate to give your kids money because of how you assume they will spend it? How frustrated are you when you give them $20 and expect change, and your children think (for whatever reason) that the money is now their money?
BE HONEST!
I’ve met many parents who share in this frustration of trying to teach their kids the VALUE of money and the WISDOM needed to properly manage it. Whether it’s by an allowance that you give them, or when they start earning money on their own…we struggle sometimes because of the decisions they make.
The reason I believe GOD CARES MORE ABOUT YOUR MONEY THAN YOU DO (our current series) is because as our Heavenly Father, he wants us to understand the VALUE of being good stewards of what He’s provided for us and the WISDOM to leverage it as a tool for the Kingdom of God.
First, we need to learn is that EVERYTHING BELONGS TO HIM!
Psalm 24:1 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;
Most of the time, we immediately assume that the money we get, we make, we earn – is MY MONEY that I DESERVE. We first and foremost need to understand that we are STEWARDS of everything that God gives us – this includes the jobs and opportunities we have to earn money.
In Matthew 25 “Parable of the Talents” Jesus makes it clear that HE is the Master that entrusts his servants (US) with a certain amount of talents (think skill set, gifts, capacity, talents) which in our world = MONEY. Jesus is going to eventually CALL INTO ACCOUNT what we did with what He’s given us, and we will either be like the 2 servants who understood stewardship and used it to increase their responsibilities, or we will be the steward who buried his talent and had nothing to show for what was given to him. IT WENT TO WASTE in the ground.
Second, we need to learn how to USE MONEY as a TOOL/SERVANT for the Kingdom of God.
One great resource that we offer at Journey is called Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey. Not only does Dave teach how to view and understand our role as a steward of God’s resources, but he also teaches how to manage that money and use it wisely.
We are starting a new FPU group on April 1st at Journey on Monday nights at 6:30pm. It is a 9 week group that will walk through the FPU curriculum and will cost $109. You can register under the GROUPS section on TheInfo.Bar. We encourage EVERYONE at Journey who has not taken this course to do so…it is the most helpful resource we offer.
I hope you will join us at Journey as we continue our series “God Cares MORE about Your MONEY than YOU DO.”