Personally I have studied and researched what the Bible speaks about money and financial wisdom. The Bible has a lot to say about how we are to view Economics 101. The Bible says a lot about how we are to buy and sell. The Bible does address the issue of living in our culture. Interesting... the Bible was written 2000 years ago and yet speaks to us today. What other book do you know that will do that? The Christian life as prescribed in the Bible is for all time and in all ages and in all lands, in all nations, and in all people groups. And the principles of living are designed to help Christians in all conditions.
CRISIS! Our topic: Financial.
- "a situation or period in which things are very uncertain, difficult, or painful, especially a time when action must be taken to avoid complete disaster or breakdown."
The idea of a Christian in crisis as define above often happens. There are times and even periods of uncertainty, and difficulty, and times of painful experiences. There are times in our lives where we might not know where the next paycheck is coming from.
There have been a number of times in our life where we didn't know where the next check was coming from. Without warning, we lost our position in a church, without knowing where the next position was coming from. Several times we moved from one city to another city without knowing where I was going to work or even knowing where we would live at the moment. (we stayed with a family member or a friend for a brief time.) CRISIS? Well, in the sense of uncertain, difficult and a little painful, and we needed to take action, yes.
GOD'S PLAN FOR CRISIS TIME IN THESE SITUATIONS?
Working and Giving: God's Way to Live Free from Worry in a Failed Economy
Have I always practiced wisdom in finance? Have I always practiced what I know are the right practices in finances? Have I failed in practice what I know and have learned over the years? The answer is yes in all the above. But you do not quit trying.
YOUR VIEWPOINT ABOUT MONEY AND LIFE HAS BEEN DETERMINED BY WHO YOU KNOW AND WHO YOU READ. Right? Ron Blue, Larry Burkett, Bill Gothard, John MacArthur and a number of others, and of course the latest, Dave Ramsey.
I have never been driven by the pursuit of making money. And thus, decisions to serve the Lord have never been based upon how much the church would pay us. On the other hand I have always had to take another job to support our family. And at times Charity has worked.
Now I have often wondered why the attitude toward money has been my belief system? Of course I would have liked to have had a church position that would have paid $100,000. That would have been nice, of course. I would like having a regular job that would pay $35.00 an hour.
But making all that money, without financially sound biblical principles will end up in major failure in many areas of live.
The pursuit of money is the key point here. If your mindset is to make money, I am sure one can do that. Making money as a primary purpose will often lead to practices that will end up in losing all your monies. The idea of making money is not wrong, the idea of the pursuit of making money is the problem.
Many Christian people have been blessed with the ability of making money. But their pursuit was not making the money, but came as a result of the desire of doing service to the Lord. They were focused on their work rather than on making money. And they practiced sound financial principles.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU GET INTO THESE TIMES OF CRISES?
