10 Bible Verses about Money That Will Change Your Life from milkandhoneymoney/bible-verses-about-money/ AUGUST 20, 2012 by ZACH 28 COMMENTS Do you know how many bible verses are on the topic of “money”? I was curious, so I did some research. What I found is shocking to say the least. Here’s a few of the highlights from my reading: Money is mentioned about 2,000 times in the bible. Jesus spoke about money more than any other subject. In the New Testament, money is mentioned more times than heaven and hell combined. I was sceptical, so I decided to head over to biblegateway to do my own keyword search. Here’s the list of the “money” related terms that I used for the search: Money, Gold, Silver, Finances, Borrow, Debt, Lend, Buy, Sell, Tithe, Wage, Wealth, Riches, Greed, Poor, Talent. The Bible Says a Lot About Money Believe it or not, this list of words returned 1,346 verses using the New Living Translation. Add in a few more terms that I probably left out, and it’s not such a far stretch to believe money really is mentioned about 2,000 times in the bible. I know what you’re probably thinking. “Why are you talking about 1,346 verses? This post is supposed to be about 10 verses that will change my life!” God Cares a Lot About Your Finances The reason I bring this up is to show you that God is very concerned with our view of money. If the topic wasn’t important, or if it was easy to grasp, 1,000+ verses would not be necessary. I realize you’re probably not interested in going through the full list of verses right now. So, I’ve tried my best to narrow the field. It wasn’t easy. My goal was to touch on each “money principle” found in the bible. If more than one verse focused on the same principle, I picked the more popular and memorable verse. You may have heard a few (or all) of these verses before, but that’s a good thing! The purpose of this post is to give you a resource that you can read, remember, and apply to change your financial life for the better. While you’re reading through this list, think about your personal situation. If you find a certain verse that really impacts you, write it down and save it for future reference. Top 10 Life Changing Verses 1. 1 Timothy 6:9-11 People who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life… “Money is the root of all evil” is one of the most commonly misquoted verses from the bible. Do you see what is missing? The words “the love of…” and the context. By itself, you get the impression that money is always bad. It’s not. Paul is writing this to Timothy, who has been sent to Ephesus. The city has seen an uprising of false teachers and people preaching as a means to become wealthy. These “preachers” were so motivated to make money, they turned their backs on Jesus and the truth of the Gospel. This is a scary example of evil that came directly from the love of money. It all comes down to priorities. You must put your trust in God and pursue a godly life. If you find yourself loving money, watch out. It’s a root that will cause all kinds of evil. 2. Matthew 6:24 “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 both God and money.” Again, it comes down to priorities. Are you going to love God or love money? Are you going to serve God or serve money? You have a choice and you can’t choose both. 3. Hebrews 13:5 Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” If you haven’t picked it up by now, here’s a third verse with the same phrase. Don’t love money. This verse takes it a step further by explaining why you should choose to trust God, not money. Why? Because God has made a promise to never fail you. Can money fail you? You better believe it. I’m sure you can come up with a long list of reasons not to trust money. Stock markets crash, people lose their jobs, unexpected medical bills can send someone into bankruptcy… The list goes on. Since it’s true God will never fail you, you are free to be content and satisfied, regardless of your financial situation. 4. Matthew 6:31-33 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” Someone once told me, “90% of what you worry about will never happen and worrying about the other 10% doesn’t help the problem anyway!” As believers we know that God is in control. If we seek him first, he will take care of the rest. 5. Proverbs 13:11 Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; Wealth from hard work grows over time. Here’s the same verse from the NASB, which refers to fraud rather than get-rich-quick schemes: Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles, But the one who gathers by labor increases it. To avoid any confusion, it’s important to understand being satisfied with your circumstances does not mean you can be lazy. As you may expect, hard work leads to wealth. Lying, cheating, and taking advantage of people are not sustainable ways to increase your wealth. Over time these things will catch up with you and before you know it your money will be gone. Honest, hard work will lead to increasing wealth. 6. Proverbs 21:5 Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty. While you’re working hard, you may as well work smart. Careful planning is also important to building wealth. 7. Proverbs 22:7 Just as the rich rule the poor, so the borrower is servant to the lender. If you’re living paycheck to paycheck with bills piling up, you can relate to this verse. Debt can trap you and control your life. Unless you want to become a “slave to debt”, you need to work hard, be honest, plan ahead, and spend less than you earn. 8. Matthew 6:19-21 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” One more verse about priorities. It’s ok, we need it. It’s easy to fall into the trap of storing your treasure on here earth, especially with the pressures of today’s society. The next time you’re trying to decide between a) buying something you don’t really need, like new clothes or a fancy new car, or b) giving your money back to God or to someone in desperate need, think of this verse. Store your treasures in heaven, not here on earth. Moths eat clothes. Rust destroys cars. Treasure in heaven is everlasting. 9. Malachi 3:9-12 You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. It’s not everyday that God tells you to put him to the test. In fact, this is the only place in the bible this happens. I believe God does this to make a point. Tithing is a touchy subject, but the bible consistently says those that give generously and cheerfully will be blessed. Unfortunately, when times are tough and we need God’s blessing the most, giving is usually the first thing to be cut out of our budgets. We need to remember, it all belongs to God in the first place. He doesn’t need our money, but he wants us to be faithful in giving and surrendering our possessions to him. 10. Luke 16:10-12 “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own? We have a responsibility to be faithful with the things we have been trusted with. Our life on earth is just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Similar to this verse is the parable found in Matthew 25:20-30 (which deserves it’s own post). This parable is about the master who divided his money among his servants. The servants who took the money they were given and used it to earn more were told, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” The servant that did nothing with the money was called wicked and lazy. With wealth comes responsibility. If you are faithful with the money, opportunity, and skills given to you, you were be rewarded here on earth as well as in heaven. Top 10 Recap Love God. Don’t love money. You cannot love both God and money. Be satisfied. God has promised to never fail you. Seek God first. He has promised to give you everything you need. Work hard. Be honest. Plan your work. No shortcuts. Stay out of debt. The borrower is servant to the lender. Store your treasures in heaven. Not here on earth. Be generous and cheerful with giving. God will bless you in this. Be a good steward of what you have been given here on earth.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 01:46:04 +0000
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