Dear Reader, 

I want us to spend the month of April learning together about finances. Money is mentioned a lot in the Bible. Not just in Proverbs or the Old Testament either, Jesus makes a point of telling parables and stories involving money. Since the Bible makes such a big fuss about money, perhaps we as God’s children should also make a big fuss about money, learning to use it better. 

STEWARDSHIP

The word stewardship is used to describe the idea that our hard-earned money isn’t ours but a loan from God.  I really like this idea because sometimes adulting is just overwhelming and I always treat my stuff worse than the stuff I borrowed. Books I borrowed from a library are returned the way I got them. Dresses I borrow from friends are returned post dry-clean. So the idea that I borrowed money from God, means to me– that I need to return it either the same or better than I got it. 

THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS 

The concept that money is just a loan from God is much like that story of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30. 

The story goes that there was a master who was leaving on a trip and left three of his servants with some money. And when he came back he wanted to really see what they had done with it. One servant invested it and got a double return for the master. One servant who had less than the other also invested it and got a double return for the master. The last servant– whom  I identified with the most in that story—- buried the money in the ground because he was too afraid to use it, or invest it or do anything to it. 

I am much like that servant these days, except I don’t bury it in the ground or put it under my mattress— just throw it in a high yield savings account. 

ROADMAP

This month, we’ll be going over some financial concepts and what I think about them. Perhaps you’ll feel inclined to try them or just read my report. I hope you’ll find that what we do— everything we do— even wisely manage the finances God gave us— is for the glory of God, so that His Kingdom may come and His Will be done on earth as it already happens in heaven.