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 A Christian Perspective on
Money Management
By: Jeffrey K. Wilson,
Planned Giving &Trust Services Director
Ä

 


 



 

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-
 A Consumerist Menu
 ³North American
Christianity has
become a
consumerist menu of
personal spiritual-
care products
intended to assure
eternal life at minimal
cost to the customer.´
Most People Believe You 
Happiness

 Oorexample, the American

Institute of Public Opinion
recently found that 70% of
Americans thought they would
be happier if they could earn
only $37.00 more a week.
³IOONLY´ I had a new car, I
could be satisfied!

³IO ONLY´ I lived in a nice

house, I would be content!

 ³IO ONLY´ I had his job, I would be

happy!

— ./0
 111

The Cost of Getting Orom Here to There

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Oinancially Unfit
  
 



-

  
   -— 

 
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  -
Most Don¶t Realize Their Need
 Despite the grim statistics,
three-fourths of Americans
say they're doing a good or
excellent job controlling
spending, according to a
USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup
Poll of 1,010 people taken
this spring. And 1 in 5 say
they do a fair or poor job
and admit "they could stand
a lot of improvement."
The Number One Issue
 ³Somebody had better
get loud about this in a
hurry. Saving for
retirement is the No. 1
issue. So many
Americans have let that
slip, replacing it with
plasma televisions, new
cars and houses two-
thirds bigger than what
we need."
Not Enough Retirement Accounts
 Just 25% of people
ages 45 to 54 had
individual retirement
accounts as of 2003.
The median balance
was only $13,000
 



 3  

2 -4

+
  
5
 .

Luke 3:14 NIV

 Neither Poverty nor Riches

 ³« Give me neither poverty nor riches, but

give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may
have too much and disown you and say, 'Who
is the LORD ?' Or I may become poor and
steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.´
Prov. 30:8,9 NIV.
u



  
  

 
  

 


    


     
 *
! 
According to a survey by IKEA, Reader¶s Digest, 10/01 p. 192

 !
 *

 Oear of aging  Personal finance
 Own weight  World issues

 Wife¶s weight  Children

 Career  Oriends¶ health

 Personal finance  Oear of aging

—

 

V6500/— 05
.0705Ä0"61

5V650
.0705Ä0""*81
American household savings rate as a percentage of personal
income Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Oinancial Oreedom is Your Choice

 ³Assets free
you,
 Liabilities eat
you.´²— e Wall
Street Journal,
07/02/08 p. D 1,
—  9
 
 ³The Haves´
 ³The Have Nots´

 ³The Have Not

Paid Oor What I
Have´
"
V!


 ³The quickest
way to double
your money is to
fold it over and
put it back into
your pocket!´
Will Rogers
Impulse Buying
 ³Americans spend
about $2 trillion in
malls each year.
 Two-thirds of those
purchases are
impulse decisions.
Lured to Spend on Wrong Things

 One in three
children in this
country are
overweight.
Influencing Kids to Spend
 But, until now, it was
unclear how much the
nation's largest food
and beverage
companies spent
influencing kids to eat
unhealthy foods.
$1.6 Billion Marketing to Children
 The companies spent
about $1.6 billion
marketing their
products -- mainly
soda, fast food and
cereal -- to children in
2006.
Biggest: Soft Drinks

 The biggest category,

$492 million, was
carbonated-beverage
advertising.
Healthy-eating Initiatives Dwarfed
 The government¶s CDC's
budget for nutrition, physical
activity, and obesity is about
$41 million for Americans of all
ages. The agriculture dept¶s
Team Nutrition, whose goal is to
improve children's eating and
physical-activity habits, has an
annual budget of about $10
million.
 Spending Vs. Saving
 We drive last year¶s
model of car
 We wear this year¶s
fashions in clothes
 ALL ON |EX—
YEAR¶S MONEY!
Managing Money
 ³It¶s not like I worship
money, I worship
 - You can invest
money you save, and it
can 2; the things you
buy just depreciate. If
you save more than you
spend, you call the shots.
When you owe, you¶re
subject to the whims of
others.´Clark Howard, ³Turn $500 Into
$1,000,´ Reader¶s Digest, June, 2002, p. 74.
  ! "




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 Average Credit Card Debt
 The average American
household in 2008, with
at least one credit card
has nearly $9,200 in
credit card debt and the
average interest rate
runs in the mid- to high
teens at any given time.
±cardweb.com
 2 
 " 
 Average debt per
household in 1990--
$2,985
 Average debt per
household in 2001--
$8,367
 An increase of 160%
in one decade! 6SA
—oday, April 29, 2002.

 
8 
 Cards per home 14.2
 Number of offers 5 B
 Late fee in 1995 $12.64
 Late fee in 2002 $28.79
 Oees paid $16.8 B*
 More than 30 days
late 5.32%
6   , 06/17/02 p. 38.
 * , 09/08 p. 66.
The Average Person?
 We have so much personal debt in our
country that the average person has been
described as someone driving on a bond-
financed highway, in a bank-financed car,
fueled by charge card-financed gasoline,
going to purchase furniture on the
installment plan to put in his savings-and-
loan-financed home!
 Don¶t Let the Cards Get You!
 ³The way it has
become, you
have all these
carrots in front of
you, then, you
have all these
gotchas.´ ±Robert
McKinley, CEO of research firm,
CardWeb.com USNews, 06/17/02
 O  
  
 ³Outstanding debt held by U.S. households
last year hit a record 97% of disposable
income, up from 83% in 1991.
 U.S. Debt = $6.59 trillion

6 
   !"#$$$
ƒ ³In fact, households spent nearly $11 billion
more than they earned in July, putting
savings at a negative 0.2 percent«All told,
private-sector spending exceeded income by
a stunning 6% of GNP in the second quarter,
roughly $600 billion over the year.´


—



 
"  

:

 $1 million - 11.5 days

 $1 billion - 32 years

 $1 trillion - 32,000 years!


 */ :

— 
;:

 $1 million = 40 inches
 $1 billion = 3000 feet
 $1 trillion = 630 miles
! < 
 
 Personal bankruptcy
filings in millions
 Last year a record.
 There are an
estimated 7.1 million
filings over the past 5
years²a 32%
increase since 1998.
 Non-dischargeable Debts
 Student loans.
 Most federal, state and local taxes and money
borrowed or charged to a credit card to pay
those taxes.
 Child support, alimony and other support.
 Oines or restitution imposed in criminal court
 Court fees for filing motions or appeals.
 Debts resulting from driving while intoxicated.
 Certain condominium and cooperative fees.
More Bankruptcies Each Year
 More Americans file
for bankruptcy each
year than suffer heart
attacks, graduate
from college, are
diagnosed with
cancer or file for
divorce.
Why Bankruptcies are so High
 It¶s not because of
overspending on cars
and restaurant meals.
 It is because middle-class
families have bid up the
price of housing in
communities with good
schools to the point that it
now takes two incomes to
support the family.
No Cushion Left for the Unforeseen
 Even worse, the costs
associated with
housing and having
both parents work
leave no cushion in
case of divorce, job
loss or some other
financial calamity.
"0—
1. Going into debt is a  

 
 =
  

 
. The one who made
the choice to borrow the money is
solely accountable. The first step in
getting out of debt, therefore, is
taking responsibility for going into
debt.
"0—& 

 (

2. In most cases, there is no real need

to go into debt. Advertising and
financial deceptions try to convince
us otherwise, but they sound too
good to be true because they are.
"0—
& 

 (

] GOD WANTS TO AND WILL

MEET EACH OO OUR REAL
NEEDS. NO ONE AND NOTHING
ELSE CAN.
Money Will Not Bring True
Happiness In Life

 ³Solomon, the author of Ecclesiastes, had an

annual income of more than $25 million.
 He lived in a palace that took 13 years to build.
 He owned 40,000 stalls of horses.
 He sat on an ivory throne overlaid with gold.
 He drank from gold cups.
 The daily menu of his household included 100
sheep and 30 oxen, in addition to fallow-deer
and fatted fowl.´ eslie B. Flynn, Your God and Your Gold, p.
112


>


 ³He who loves money shall never have

enough. The foolishness of thinking that
wealth brings happiness? The more you
have, the more you spend, right up to the
limits of your income [today, with credit cards
beyond your income!].´
Eccl. 5: 10,11. B
! !
— 
 ³When God provides
more money, we
often think, — is is a
blessing. Well, yes,
but it could be just as
scriptural to think,
— is is a test.´ Randy
Alcorn, — e —reasure Principle, p. 73.
— — 
< *  
!

 +
"-5    : ³I have
made millions, but they have
brought me no happiness.
 *- -7
 : ³The care of
$200,000,000 is enough to kill
anyone. There is no pleasure
in it.
 +
+ : ³I am the
most miserable man on earth.´

<: ³I was happier
when doing a mechanic¶s job.
 
 2
 :
³Millionaires seldom smile.´
 Media Mogul Ted Turner
 ³Once you make a billion dollars
it¶s not that big a deal«.I couldn¶t
tell anyone at the office. All of my
friends were working at the
company²the highest paid person
made about $100,000²and I was
so much richer than my other
friends in Atlanta I couldn¶t tell
them«.
 — —

 ³«so I went home and told my wife, and
she said, µI don¶t care. I¶ve got to help the
kids with their homework.¶ No one even
cared. I thought bells and whistles would
go off. Nothing happened at all. Having
great wealth is one of the most
disappointing things. It¶s overrated, I can
tell you that.´
8 >0?
 ³Allthat he
possessed,
he invested
in the ark.´
Patriarc s & Prop ets, p.
95.
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 Bible Echo, July 1, 1887
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 ³I have not coveted anyone¶s silver or

gold or clothing. You yourselves know
that these hands of mine have supplied
my own needs and the needs of my
companions«. we must help the weak,
remembering the words the Lord Jesus
Himself said: µIt is more blessed to give
than to receive.¶´ Acts 20:33-35 |IV
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 The world¶s three
richest individuals are
said to have as much
wealth among them
 as the world¶s 43
poorest countries
combined.
6 S |ews &World Report,
September 25, 2000 p. 76



 

 ³South Koreans threw
away 4 million tons of
food last year, more
than the total output
of staple foods in
North Korea
according to a
government report.´
—ime Asia, March 18, 2002
Contrasting Bottom with the Top
 ³According to a Oederal Reserve study last
month, the 56 million households that
make up the bottom half of the economic
ladder owns just 2.6% of the nation¶s
wealth. That¶s down from 3.6% a decade
ago. The top 10%, meanwhile, account
for almost 70% of the wealth.´ 6SA —oday,
04/27/06 editorial, p. 12A.
One Man¶s Pay vs. 18,000!
 ³In the mid-1990s
Michael Jordan
earned more money
in promoting shoes
for |ikeΠthan did
|ike¶s entire 18,000
person Indonesian
workforce that
produced those
shoes.´
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C

 In Maramba,
Zambia,10-year-old
Ennelis helps her
mother sell tomatoes
to earn the 75 cents
needed to feed their
family for a day.
 — e Was ington Post, Oeb. 19, 2002, p. 1
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1 —imot y 6:10 ³the love of
money«.´ The root of
evil is in the mind of man,
not in money. Sinfulness
is determined by attitude,
not affluence. Wealth will
not corrupt a person who
has a proper perspective
of it.
!
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Money Is Morally Neutral,
But Dangerous (continued)
+ 2
, ³No
servant can serve two
masters; for either he
will hate the one, and
love the other, or else
he will hold to the one,
and despise the other.
You cannot serve God
and riches.´
uke 16:13 |ASB
Money Is Morally Neutral,
But Dangerous (continued)

 Jesus did not say

that we must
serve God more
than money.
 The question is
whether we serve
money at all.
Money Is Morally Neutral,
But Dangerous (continued)
 Either we serve
God and use
money or we serve
money and use
God.
 Yet, few Christians
deliberately
dedicate their lives
to materialism.
Money Is Morally Neutral,
But Dangerous (continued)
ßWealth is deceitful, Jesus told
us, and its bondage is subtle.
ßLike the flypaper and the fly,
the fly lands on the sticky
substance thinking ³my
flypaper!´ only to discover that
the flypaper says ³my fly!!´
maddon Robinson, ³—estimony of a
C eckbook,´ C ristian Medical Society Journal
(1976), p. 3.
 Great Potential for Good or A
 Water is a gift of God.
 Oire is a gift of God.
 The greater a thing¶s
potential for good
when used rightly, the
greater its potential
for evil when used
wrongly.
 So it is with money.
 Randy Alcorn, Money, Possessions, and Eternity,
p. 35
God May Choose Not To Prosper Us

Daniel and Jeremiah

were two prophets
who lived during the
period of the
Babylonian captivity.
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These faithful men were each at different
ends of the economic spectrum.
God, in His infinite wisdom and mercy,
Sovereignly chooses who of
His faithful people He will prosper.
 2—Ä " 

³The rich rules

over the poor,
and the
borrower is
servant (slave)
to the lender.´
Proverbs 22:7 |KJV
 2—Ä "  (cont)

 If you want to be
free of debt
slavery, you¶ve
got to make up
your mind, that
you¶ll  
 
2 to
enjoy financial
freedom later.
 2—Ä "  (cont)

 A person or a family
living in debt²on
borrowed money²is
really living today on
funds expected to be
earned in the future.
 If any life changes occur,
then serious financial
embarrassment can
result.
 2—Ä " & 
(
 Could it be that
the devil uses
debt to tie us up
so that we can¶t
respond to God¶s
calls for service
and/or financial
support?
 2—Ä " & 
(
 ³There are only two
places in the world
where we can deposit
our treasures²in God¶s
storehouse or in
Satan¶s.
 All that is not devoted to
Christ¶s service is
counted on Satan¶s side
and goes to strengthen
his cause.´ 6T, p. 448
 2—Ä "  (cont)
 No self-respecting
Christian would ever sit
down and write a check to
the devil, but when we are
in debt he effectively
siphons off large portions
of our income (and the
interest we pay) so that
these funds can never be
used for advance God¶s
cause.
 Seven Steps to Get Out of Debt

1. Determine Where You Are

a. Prepare a debt schedule to list all
debt.
b. If you need forgiveness for the
whys and hows ask, 1 John 1:9.
c. Praise God that He will guide you
out, 1 Thess 5:18.
Seven Steps to Get Out of Debt
- Stop Going Into Debt
 Requires a decision that there will
be no additional borrowing
b. A recipe:
i. Lay your credit cards on a
sheet of aluminum foil
ii. Put them in the oven at 450
degrees
iii. In just a few minutes, you¶ll have
a brightly colored mass of plastic
iv. After it cools, hang it in a
conspicuous place to remind you of
your decision to stop going into debt
 Seven Steps to Get Out of Debt

c. If you are worried about stinking up your

kitchen, you can perform ³plastic surgery´ on
your cards²simply use scissors to cut each
card into at least eight pieces.
d. Don¶t worry how you¶ll get along without credit
cards. The credit card companies want you to
use their plastic. Very shortly they will send
you new cards, unsolicited.
Seven Steps to Get Out of Debt
'- Develop a Repayment Plan
a. Tally up your living expenses
b. Sell assets
c. Use savings accounts
d. Double payments
e. Keep payments constant²it¶s like a ladder,
beginning at the bottom rung and work your
way to the top
f. Reduce living expenses
g. Reduce tax withholdings
 Using Coupons Saves Money

 Close to 80% of
Americans use
coupons
 Using six 79 cent
coupons a week²the
average²works out
to
 $246 in annual
savings!
 Reader¶s Digest, October, 2001, p. 186.
Seven Steps to Get Out of Debt
h. Do not decrease your giving
i. ³Honor the Lord with your
wealth, with the first fruits of all
your crops; then your barns will
be filled to overflowing, and your
vats will brim over with new
wine.´
Proverbs 3:9-10 |IV

I. Do not use tax money

³5
    
  
 F4 Mark 12:17 NKJV
 Seven Steps to Get Out of Debt
4. Establish Accountability
a. ³Don¶t expect what you don¶t inspect.´
b. Verbalize to another person your
commitment to get out of debt.
c. Accountability is seen throughout Scripture.
When the Lord sent out His disciples, He sent
them two by two. Paul took a partner on his
missionary journeys.
d. Set up reporting times.
e. Most people who care about you will be
honored to help.
Seven Steps to Get Out of Debt

5. Reward Yourself
a. When you pay off the first debt, go
out to lunch.
b. Second debt payoff, enjoy a nice
dinner.
c. When the third is paid off, take a
weekend away, etc.
 Seven Steps to Get Out of Debt

6. Learn How To Leverage Your

Money
a. Watch for Sales
b. Buy Used
c. Use Coupons
d. Barter
 . 

.  
 ³Someone in our
neighborhood put a
huge sofa out by the
curb for the trash.
Since it was in good
shape, motorists
slowed down for a
look. But when they
saw how enormous it
was, they¶d leave«
. 

.    
>

 ³Eventually a tiny
car pulled up,
and two men got
out. — is I¶ve got
to see, I
thought«.
. 

.   Concluded
 ³The two men
removed the
cushions, turned
the sofa upside
down and shook it
hard. They then
picked up all the
coins that tumbled
out, and drove off!´
 Rhonda L. Arm, Jamaica, NY Reader¶s Digest,
Jan., 2002, p. 206
Seven Steps to Get Out of Debt

7. Be Generous
Put Your (His)
Money in
Perspective
Return to God, He Will Bless You
 ³Return to me, and I will
return to you«How can
we return? Bring the
whole tithe into the
storehouse«and see if
I will not throw open the
floodgates of heaven
and pour out so much
blessing that you will
not have room enough
for it.´
 Malac i 3:7-10 |IV

V34— G

 ³When we were given

one slice of bread a week
and dirty soup every day,
we decided that we would
faithfully µtithe¶ 

.
Every tenth week we took
the slice of bread and
gave it to the weaker
brethren as our µtithe¶ to
the Master.´
 Richard Wurmbrand, —% O&',
(Diane Books, 1967). P. 45
*+ 

$ ³Remembering
the words the
Lord Jesus
himself said:
$ µIt is more
blessed to give
than to receive.¶´
Acts 20:33-35 |IV

*  < 
 3
2  
 2  

2 
2   


 
2 
  -4
Sabbath School Lesson, June
17, 2003
Matthew 25:21 KJV
³Well done, thou
good and faithful
servant: thou hast
been faithful over a
few things, I will
make thee ruler over
many things: enter
thou into the joy of
thy Lord.´
1 John 2:15-17 NKJV

 ³Do not love the world or the things in the

world. If anyone loves the world, the love of
the Oather is not in him. Oor all that is in the
world²the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life²is not of the
Oather but is of the world. And the world is
passing away, and the lust of it; but he who
does the will of God abides forever´
Luke 14: 28, 29 NKJV

 ³Oor which of you, intending to build a

tower, does not sit down first and
count the cost, whether he has
enough to finish it---lest, after he has
laid the foundation, and is not able to
finish it, all who see it begin to mock
him´
Steps to Christ, Page 44

 ³The love of
money, the
desire for wealth,
is the golden
chain that binds
[people] to
Satan.´
  " .

 ³Money that is needlessly spent is a double

loss. Not only is it gone, but its 
 is
also gone.
 Had we set it aside it could have been
multiplying on earth through savings or in
heaven as an eternal investment through
giving.´
 Alcorn, Money, Possessions, & Eternity, p. 333.
 If We Mishandle, God May Take Away

 ³God handed all of them

over to Nebuchadnezzar.
He carried to Babylon all
the articles from the
temple of God, both large
and small, and the
treasures of the Lord¶s
temple and the treasures
of the king and his
officials.´ 2 Chron. 36:17b-18
NIV.
 Tertullian Said It:
³And so it is that
when a man walks
along a road, the
lighter he travels, the
happier he is;
equally, on this
journey of life, a man
is more blessed if he
does not pant
beneath a burden of
riches.´
John Galsworthy
³Wealth is a means
to an end, not the
end itself. As a
synonym for health
and happiness, it has
had a fair trial and
failed dismally.´
Henry Ward Beecher
 ³There never
was a person
who did anything
worth doing, who
did not receive
more than he
gave.´
 ³Do Unto Others´

 ³When people
forget themselves,
they usually do
things others
remember.´
 --James Coco
Offerings Bring
Spiritual Blessings
 ³The offerings of the poor, given through
self-denial to aid in extending the precious
light of saving truth, will not only be a
sweet-smelling savor to God, and wholly
acceptable to Him as a consecrated gift,
but the very act of giving expands t e
eart of t e giver, and unites him more
fully to the Redeemer of the world.´ CS 347.
  
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- COL 403.
 The ULTIMATE Example:
 ³Oor God so
loved the world
that He gave
His only
begotten
Son«´ John 3:16
KJV