Financial Integrity—How Important Is It Really?
- Jun 1, 2007 - 1
The goal of every believer should be to live a life that is pleasing to and representative of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our lives are under the constant surveillance of an unbelieving world, and no area is under more scrutiny than finances.
The world looks at us and asks:
“Does God really supply the material needs of His children?”
“Do Christians handle money differently than unbelievers?”
“Does their example prove that it is more blessed to give than to receive?”
“Are God’s children content and disciplined when it comes to money?”
Do you see a difference between the ways believers and unbelievers receive, give, invest, spend, and even borrow money? (2 Cor. 5:17). You should see a difference—a big difference!
Scripture commands us to obey the teachings of Jesus in every area of life, and finances are a major part.
Our critics exclaim:
“All the church wants is my money.”
“Watch out for those businesses that advertise they are owned by Christians.”
“All my Christian friends buy lottery tickets.”
“My Christian customers/clients do not pay their bills.”
Sadly, a lot of those criticisms are justified. Love of money from our carnal, selfish nature tempts us to sin and embarrass our Lord and Savior. Financial integrity is simply not that important to many who claim to be children of God.
Financial integrity is one of the rewards of living a disciplined life that is obedient to the commands of our Lord. When we submit ourselves to and agree with God’s disciplines by faith, the result is obedience. A life of obedience is a life of integrity.
Sometimes it seems that where we are now is a long way from where God wants us to be, but the distance between obedience and disobedience is one step. Paul made it simple. We have to die to ourselves and let Him live His life in us: “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).
What is God’s purpose for money?
1. To grow us spiritually by growing our faith (Luke 6:38).
2. To finance His earthly ministry through us (Mal. 3:10).
3. To unite Christians who have needs with those who have a surplus (2 Cor. 8:14-15).
4. To clearly reveal God’s infinite power (Deut. 8:18).
God is the owner, and we are the stewards. We need to represent Jesus well in the management and handling of that which is His. Truth and integrity are synonymous with our Lord. Whatever we do in word or deed, we are to do it to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31).
God warns His children about getting into financial bondage, but God’s people and God’s churches seem to ignore the warning (Rom. 13:8).
Financial bondage is when . . .
1. You have more faith in your material goods than you do in your eternal God (Rev. 3:17-19).
2. You place any desire or motive above those of God (Isa. 55:8-9).
3. You have a burning desire to get rich quick (Prov. 28:20).
4. You have to delay paying due bills (Prov. 3:28).
5. You compromise your Christian ethic and fail to honor a moral obligation (James 5:4).
6. You fail to make investments for future needs (Matt. 25:14-30).
7. You force your wife to go to work outside the home to provide basic needs (1 Tim. 5:8).
8. You buy depreciating items on the credit system (Phil. 4:19).
9. You do not give from a willing heart (Mal. 3:8-9).
Our knowledge of Scripture allows us to see the danger signals that indicate we are in financial bondage:
1. You charge daily expenditures because of lack of funds.
2. You put off paying a bill until next month.
3. You borrow to pay fixed expenses such as taxes or insurance.
4. You spend much of your time worrying about financial matters.
5. You are unaware of how much you owe.
6. You have creditors calling or writing about past-due bills.
7. You start paying bills with money that was originally intended for investment.
8. You take from savings to pay current bills.
9. You have less than three months expenses in an available account for emergencies.
10. You make new loans to pay off old ones.
11. You rely on extra work to pay regular bills.
12. You cannot grow your savings.
13. You and your spouse argue over finances.
14. You have a burning desire to accumulate money for the sake of accumulating money.
15. You think about or begin being dishonest with money.
16. You find returning your tithes and offerings to God difficult.
How do you get out of debt?
1. Transfer ownership of everything you have to God.
2. On the first day of every week, return an offering to the Lord as a reminder that all we have belongs to Him (1 Cor. 16:2).
3. Stop all spending that is not absolutely essential.
4. Stop all new indebtedness immediately.
5. Put all extra income into debt retirement.
6. Sell all depreciating items for which you are now in debt and replace with a less expensive item if necessary.
7. Closely examine food costs and cut at least fifteen percent off your food bill.
8. Do things yourself that you are presently paying others to do.
9. Set a challenging goal for debt retirement and make any sacrifice to reach your goal.
10. Make getting out of debt a family effort.
Joy comes to those who handle the Lord’s money with obedience and integrity. If you are blaming debt for your failure in the area of financial integrity, begin to change things today.
John D. Morgan is senior pastor of Sagemont Church, Houston, Texas, and the author of a financial freedom seminar that has been presented to over one million people.
1 comments (post your own) feed
1 On Jul 27th, 2007, at 10:54pm, Calistus Wanjala Kavunja wrote:
You do well to this hard fact in the eyes.I believe that the Lord has a reason for letting me read your article.I also believe that many christians do not keep crystal clean records and this is why we get so easily entangled in scandles and irregular spending of our(or others)money.I have very little knowledge on keeping such books of accounts.Please send me guidelines on to keep all the basic books of my personal accounts
Thanks