Your life should be free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for He Himself has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. Hebrews 13:5 HCSB
I recently coordinated the Financial Peace University class by Dave Ramsey at our church. At one of the first classes, participants were asked to anonymously provide information on how much debt they had, not including their home. We had 11 families represented in the class and I was surprised to discover that the total debt of everyone was almost $600,000. Non-home debt would include student loans, cars, credit cards, etc. The average debt of each family in our class was over $50,000. This is an indication that many of those in the class had bought into the world’s idea that if you want it, you can have it by just using credit cards or borrowing money. Even though most of us would not want to classify ourselves as being a lover of money, the facts indicate that most of us are obsessed with having more “things”. Most people who live in America are wealthy compared to world standards, yet we never seem to be satisfied with what we have.
This verse warns against being a lover of money. We are to trust the Lord to provide for our needs and to be satisfied with what we have. It seems that the more we accumulate “things” the more we want more. Even the richest man is the world always wants more. The world tells us that happiness can be found in accumulating more “things”, but those who have reached a point financially that they can purchase just about anything do not seem to be happy.
Challenge: Discover financial peace by following God’s plan for acquiring and using money. Be a good steward of what God has entrusted to you. Be careful not to become a lover of money. Trust God to provide for your needs and do not borrow money except for your home. Attend a FPU class and get out of debt so you will have more money to help others.