What God Wants You to Know about Money

By Brian Mitchell       According to the Self-Storage Association, a trade group charged with monitoring such things, the country now possesses about 1.9 billion square feet of personal storage space outside the home. According to a recent survey, the owners of 1 out of every 11 homes, also own a self-storage unit. This represents an increase of 75 percent since 1995. Most operators of self-storage facilities report 90 percent occupancy, with an average time among renters of 15 months.     Amazingly, as the amount of storage space required by homeowners has grown, so has the average size of the American house. In fact, the National Association of Homebuilders reports that the average American house grew from 1,660 square feet in 1973 to 2,400 square feet in 2004. If our houses have grown in size by an average of almost 800 sq. ft., why do we need so much extra storage space? Answer—STUFF.     The reason that Americans have so much extra stuff today is that we have been taught by our culture that we have to have “stuff”—the nice car, the nice house, the latest fashions, the big TV, the best toys for the kids, etc. Of course, there is nothing wrong—in & of itself—with having “things.” The problem often is that we often misuse money in order to get what we want.     On June 7, 2002 the Federal Reserve released this information: 1) Consumer credit card debt stands at $1.6 trillion. 2) Consumer debt including home mortgages is $7 trillion; in 2002, debt was double what it was in 1990 and by the next year it was up to 9.3 trillion. For our country, the national debt is now over 16 trillion or $51,619 for ever man, woman and child in America. 3) Twenty-three percent of the average person’s take-home pay already is committed to payment of existing debt, not including mortgages—which puts the number closer to 50%--this is average so it is much worse for many. 4) Fifty-six percent of all divorces are a result of financial tension in the home.     We often think of money as a subject outside the domain of Scripture, but as we have already seen, Scripture has much to say about money. In this lesson, we are going to examine what God wants you to know about money. Brethren, let us commit ourselves to giving generously to the cause of Christ, so that Jesus might be glorified and souls led to salvation!     About the collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem, Paul writes, “I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. As it is written, ‘Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack’” (2 Cor.8:13-15).     Are you honoring Jesus in the way that you use the money he has given? Are you honoring Jesus in the way that you use the life he has given? Let us think on these questions as we go through our lesson today.

- Brian Mitchell serves as a minister with the Jackson Church of Christ in Jackson, MO. He may be contacted through the congregation's website at https://www.jacksonchurchofchrist.net