Jump Start #1040 

Proverbs 4:5 “Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.”

  The fourth chapter of Proverbs is directed from a father to his son. He’s teaching the lad about life. Our verse emphasizes the value of proper understanding and wisdom. Acquire it. The text says that twice. It’s important. Some of us do well with that. Others don’t. Some get it early, some don’t. Some learn from parents, some learn the hard way.

Today, I want to address the subject of children and money. We don’t talk about that much. Too many have avoided this subject because of their own difficulties with money. Far too many are living pay check to pay check and are just one emergency away from a major disaster. Far too many are not saving. The time will come when they cannot work and then there will be a major mess. Our country is headed for a huge financial cliff. You can’t spend more than you make—as a person, family, business or a country. It will catch up with you and it’s not a pretty sight when that happens. The easy access to credit cards is squeezing the life out of families. College grads are beginning their careers with massive debt that will take decades to overcome. For some the future is so bleak that they see bankruptcy as the only solution to the mess they got themselves into.  Our children are growing up with the impression of buying all that you can right now, and worry about paying for it later. That thinking affects more than just the bank account. This current trend is going to hurt the kingdom of God when broke brethren are going to be unable to give to further the gospel message. We need to be better stewards with money. We MUST teach our children about money.

There are two extremes, attitudes, that God wants His people to avoid. On one side is greed. Materialism, selfishness, stingy—looking out for only self. The other extreme is carelessness. The prodigal son was reckless and irresponsible. He spent all. A famine came. They always do. He didn’t think about that. He was in trouble. He had nothing. Greed-irresponsible—those are the boundaries that God wants us to stay out of. We must fight those things and we must keep our path between those two extremes.

There are positive attitudes that God wants His people to manifest. Attitudes such as stewardship, contentment and generosity, mark the people of God. It’s hard to develop those attitudes. The world certainly doesn’t teach these. It is from the home that mom and dad must illustrate, demonstrate and teach these godly principles. What we do as parents sets the tone for what our children learn. We want our kids to understand money, use money wisely and be able to please God with their money.

There are three principles that truly make a difference in attitudes and in homes.

1. Make money without neglecting your soul. Jesus said that life is more than possessions and where your treasure is, that is where your heart will be. Making money is not wrong. It takes money to do things, even in God’s kingdom. If a person must continually miss services and the work atmosphere is pulling him away from Christ, then he must give serious thought about switching jobs. The rich man in Luke 16 is a classic example of someone who made money AND neglected his soul. His money didn’t help him in torment. His money didn’t buy a glass of cool water in torment. His money closed his eyes to sharing, even though opportunity to help and do good was right at his gate in the name of Lazarus. Money doesn’t feed your soul. Money won’t buy peace and joy. Your soul must be fed spiritually. Ignoring your soul will put you into one of the extreme ditches that God wants you to avoid.

2. Save money without ignoring others. We are the hands and feet of God. The story of the good Samaritan reminds us to “go and do thou likewise.” The Galatians were told, “as you have opportunity let us do good to all people…” In James and in 1 John we read of the closed heart that refused to help others. We need to save money. We need to have some stuck away so when a famine comes, we are prepared. We need to be saving for the time we cannot work. However, in doing this we cannot close our eyes to those about us. Help your children with this. Start young. Involve them in helping others. There are those that you can help. God wants us to be generous. He is certainly generous with us. Living paycheck to paycheck, spending nearly all that we have puts us in the position where we cannot help others. A modern Samaritan today, would wish the beat up man well, but would have to leave him there because the credit cards are maxed out and he doesn’t have any cash, and all the bills have taken any available money. Wish I could, but I can’t. That’s the scene today. That’s not good. This is happening all the time in congregations through out the land. There are folks we could help, but we’ve spent so much on self, that there is nothing for others. Don’t ignore others. Don’t get in a position where you can’t help others.

3. Spend money without it defining your life. The brand of your clothes, shoes, purse, car, sunglasses, may impress some, but they do not impress God. It especially doesn’t impress God if you bought those things just so people would envy you. Wrong reason. God is impressed by your faith. Our life is defined by who we are and where we are headed. That’s what matters the most. The Bible is full of rich people, such as Abraham, Job, Solomon, David. However, those that included God, followed God, obeyed God, and walked by faith, are the ones that caught the attention of God. A pocketful of money and an empty heart is not to be valued.

From these three principles, moms and dads need to set forth trying to teach the kids valuable lessons about money. Here are some things I see:

• When grandma sends them $20 for their birthday and you take them to a store to buy a toy that costs $24, what have they learned? Spend all that you have? They will grow up and spend their paycheck each week. They have learned nothing.

• When you give a child a dollar during church to put in the collection plate, what does that teach him? It cost him nothing. You hand it to him and he slams dunk it into the collection plate, no lessons have been taught.

  How about this? Have three jars at home: Savings, Spending; Giving. Label them. Have the child help design his own jar. When he gets $20 from grandma, a trip to the bank to break the money down so some goes in spending, some in savings and some in giving. Help him decide how much in each jar. He is taught not to dip into one jar to put into another jar. That’s what Congress does. Come Sunday, he can look into his giving jar and use that to give to the Lord. Allowances, chores and other ways of getting money ought to be divided up this way.

From this, when it’s time to go shopping he learns that:

• You have to wait to save up to buy something you want. This teaches patience. If there is not enough in the spending jar, then he has to wait. It’s ok to wait. In time, he may have changed his mind. This principle will help parents, as well. The plastic credit card is not cash. It’s spending money that we do not have. It’s counter to the very principle that we are trying to teach the child. Having patience in spending is a good lesson for parents.

• You have to make choices when you go shopping. There are too many things you want and only so much money. So wise choices have to be made. This stops the spontaneous spending that so many do. Put thought into your purchases.

• You must shop for the best deal. This teaches them to be a wise shopper and not careless with their money. This will help when they want to buy a car or pick out a college to attend.

Helping your kids with money can change their life. It puts them in the position to help others and to further God’s kingdom as they become active in the church. It’s up to you as parents to teach these principles. It’s a journey. It’s not easy. But if you ignore it, they will become like everyone else and in financial areas, that’s a mess.

Dad teaching his son. That’s the key. You might want to go find some jars today, and get started!

Roger