Fiscal Responsibility

Q

I spend hours on the articles you present on your website and thank God for the many things about the Bible that I learn from these. I also am grateful for you allowing for copies to be made of these articles, which I also find very helpful because I distribute these to my friends and also prepare sermons on them for my local church.

I have a question that I need some guidance from the Bible on, which I now ask you to kindly help give some answers to. What are the principles of God that govern the management or use of money by a Christian? I note that you refer to these as ‘Biblical admonitions for fiscal responsibility’ in your answer to a question under ‘Financial Debt & the Rapture‘.

 

A

Proverbs 22:7 tells us that the borrower is a servant to the lender, something we should avoid. Israelites could lend to each other, but couldn’t charge interest, and were only supposed to loan without any expectation of repayment. Paul advised Timothy that a man who doesn’t take care of his family’s needs is worse than a non-believer. (1 Tim. 5:8) And of course, there’s the tithing issue.

But beyond that, there’s a call to be generous in our giving, over and above tithing, that this is how we store up treasure in heaven. All this points to living well below our means, buying only that which we can pay for out of savings, and looking for ways to help others in need, knowing that God will bless us as we bless others (Luke 6:38).