A Biblical Financial Perspective

A Biblical Financial Perspective

“Now He who supplies seed to the Sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.”

(2 Corinthians 9:10, NIV).

Before embarking on your financial journey, you must first learn to interpret what God is telling you. You need to build your financial foundation. First, accept that God owns it all. God designed and built it, including man. Second, money and financial transactions are spiritual. The spectrum between the physical and the spiritual is real. Finally, stop listening to and following the “majority crowd.” Learn to follow God, not the crowd, in financial matters. The Bible is the true source of financial enlightenment.

We learn from Genesis 1-7 that God is the ultimate creator and owner of everything in the universe, including humanity. Yet we often forget His authority and ownership. In Deuteronomy 10:14, we learn that the universe belongs to God.

To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. (Deuteronomy 10:14, NIV)

Psalm 50:10-11 further confirms God as the only legitimate owner.

For every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. (Psalm 50:10-11, NIV)

Naturally, part of God’s possessions includes all the wealth in the world. This means your money also belongs to God. In essence, we become His stewards. Our entire perspective shifts when we accept our role as stewards rather than “owners.” Jesus beautifully illustrates this concept in Matthew 25:14-30 through the Parable of the Talents. Bear in mind that, in the time of Jesus, a talent was worth 6000 denarii. To put this in perspective, one denarius was a day's wages. Therefore, one talent was worth approximately 20 years of work! To better understand the value, a talent was not a coin but a unit of measure, usually in gold or silver. If it were silver, typically 75 pounds, it would be worth approximately $25,000-$40,000 today. If it were gold, it would be worth between $2 million and $3.5 million today. Once we grasp this value, it is understandable that the “Master” would be angry with the one servant to whom He gave only one talent, especially since the Master stated He was giving each servant according to his own ability (LaPierre, 2022).

In an earlier article, I discussed the Parable of the Broken Window. The article’s central theme was “lost opportunity costs.” In the Parable of the Talents, the master was upset because the servant who received only one talent chose to forgo economic benefit by burying the talent entrusted to him. The master in this parable is, of course, Jesus. The journey to a far country symbolizes His return to heaven. God entrusts us with His property and expects us to be faithful stewards, using the gifts He has given us to advance His kingdom. We will one day be held accountable to God. Therefore, our stewardship is of great significance (Bastiat, 1910).

Rabbi David Lapin tells us there is a Hebrew word for a businessperson, ohmein, which means "man of faith." A businessman, without assurance of success, sells his products in the marketplace. The business professional will gladly exchange his products for tiny metal discs or paper, confident he can provide for his family. In essence, his faith makes his profits possible. Therefore, money and financial transactions are spiritual. Once we understand the close relationship between God and financial transactions, this spiritual anomaly becomes clearer (Lapin, 2014).

Money itself is just a physical object. However, money as a “concept” is wealth. Wealth is spiritual. Physical objects can only be in one place at a time. Money, as a “concept,” can be seen in multiple places throughout the economy. This spirituality allows us to engage in commerce by distinguishing between costs and value. Engaging in economic transactions literally creates money. For example, consider an insurance salesperson. They sell you life insurance to protect your family from your sudden demise. If your insurance policy costs you $50 per month for a term of thirty years, the transaction is spiritual because the policy itself is just paper with little value. Nonetheless, both the insurance salesperson and the insurance company have earned a fair wage if there are mutual benefits and no coercive tactics are used. When you allow others to serve you, you circulate wealth. I can cut my own grass; however, I hire it out because I loathe yard work, and my severe allergies prevent me from doing it. However, I can consider this an economic benefit because I just freed up some of my time. If my time is worth $125 an hour, and I hire a company to cut my grass for $75 an hour, I just created a spiritual transaction. By allowing someone to serve me, I improved my condition and theirs (Lapin, 2014).

Finally, we need to stop listening to the crowd. In his poem “The Road Not Taken,” Robert Frost wrote, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” In Galatians 1:10, Paul warns of the risks of pleasing man rather than God.

Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:10, NIV).

All too often, people are influenced more by what they see and hear on television or on their smartphones. For instance, a common theme I hear from clients is that their home is an investment and that mortgage debt is “good debt.” This advice, often repeated, is neither factual nor biblical. First, your home is not an investment because it does not produce income. Sure, it may appreciate in value over time; however, that appreciation often only keeps up with inflation. To be honest, your home is a drag on your cash flow due to expenses and mortgage debt. Second, nowhere in the Bible have I found that God says mortgage debt is good debt. Although debt is not considered a sin by God, it is strongly disapproved of. We only need to read Proverbs 22:7, which states, “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.” Another area I hear in my business is people wanting to outsmart the market by hand-picking favorable stocks. Of course, this is akin to playing the lottery. There are numerous trained investment managers working in the business full-time who cannot consistently win with their stock picking. In fact, these professional money managers have a success rate of only 5% or less. How then can the average Joe think they are going to beat the market? They are not. I have never met a “day trader” who has consistently made money either. Most of the time, they are out of business within two years. We need to remember that only God knows the future. I want to leave you with a couple more quotes to consider.

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” (Mark Twain)

“A lie doesn’t become truth, wrong doesn’t become right, and evil doesn’t become good, just because it is accepted by the majority.” (Booker T. Washington)

 e are 2350 mentions of money in the Bible, showing that God has much to say about it. Your best way to learn more about money and financial transactions is to read and understand what God is telling us in His playbook—the Bible. Remember, we are to be faithful stewards of God’s resources. Following God’s plan will lead you to the right financial perspective.

Your faithful servant

References

Bastiat Frédéric. (1910). Things seen and things not seen. Cassell & Company Ltd.

Lapin, R. D., (2014). Business secrets from the Bible: Spiritual success strategies for financial abundance, Wiley

NIV Holy Bible: New International Version. (2024). Zondervan.