Money

A free market works not because wealth is valued, but because labor is. Jesus said we can’t serve both God and money and that it’s more difficult for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God. Jesus never said accumulating wealth itself is sinful. Exploitation of the poor is sinful. Looking to wealth for salvation and meaning is sinful. Failing to steward what we’ve been given and failing to care for those in need are sinful. When these potential downfalls are mitigated or avoided, a free market inspires people to give more.

Given the economic turmoil, social unrest, and growing misunderstanding of how economies function, what better time could there be to ensure your kids and grandkids understand the fundamentals of money and stewardship from a Biblical worldview, what money is for, how it can be properly used to bless others and advance the kingdom?

According to the New York Federal Reserve Consumer Credit Panel Borrowers, Americans owe a total of $1.5 trillion in federal student loan debt. God has so kindly written His word to confront this crippling debt. Nearly 25 percent of Jesus’ words in the New Testament deal with financial stewardship.

As Christians, who have been instructed to help their brothers and sisters in times like this, it is crucial that we heed this call. But, how can we know when one of our brothers and sisters is in need?

Mark MacArthur, the son of prominent pastor John MacArthur is facing defrauding charges brought up by the SEC after he failed to disclose personal financial gain in an investment deal.

A Christian college and the former publishers of The Christian Post and Newsweek have pled guilty in a scheme to fraudulently obtain $35 million from lenders.

A Texas-based pro-life organization may be forced to pay the government more than $1.5 million for misusing taxpayer money.

Christian-based Television Network, TCT, has committed to abolishing $2.5 million of medical debt for 2,500 families across the United States.

Religious donations dropped nearly $2 billion last year, reversing a years-long trend of steady growth, according to the Giving USA Foundation’s annual report on philanthropy.

Back on October 22, 1844, tens of thousands of Americans who followed a preacher named William Miller, eagerly awaited the Second Coming of Christ. By “await,” I don’t mean that they had a general hope or belief, as in, “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.”