Hope for your financial life and beyond

3 Principles from the Bible that Will Help You Build Wealth

The following is a guest post from ESI who blogs at ESI Money. He’s a 50-something early retiree who has amassed a multi-million dollar net worth by following three simple steps to build wealth — earning, saving, and investing (ESI).

As most Christians know, the Bible has a wealth of information and advice about handling money and the ability to build wealth. The book of Proverbs alone provides enough guidance to fill many personal finance books.

build wealthOf course the Bible doesn’t focus on becoming wealthy for wealth’s sake, but to bless others. That said, if you apply the principles in the Bible, you can’t help but become wealthy.

Over the past 25 years I have applied three simple steps to become wealthy. At the same time, my knowledge of what the Bible says about money has grown. Somewhere along the way I realized that my actions mirrored what was in Scripture. And even better, as I changed my actions to better reflect the Bible’s teachings on money, I prospered even more.

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My Top 10 Favorite Proverbs About Money

proverbs about moneyIt’s an exciting milestone day for me as my Hidden Nuggets Series is turning 50…as in this will be the 50th post in the series I started just over a year ago. It’s been an encouraging experience for me personally as I’ve explored how verses in the Bible and proverbs about money relate to my personal financial journey and issues in the world at large.

In case you are wondering, my interest in what the Bible said about money began while leading Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University class in 2010. In the middle of a video session, Dave made an off-hand remark saying that a person could get a degree in personal finance just by reading the Biblical book of Proverbs. “It’s in there…really!” he said, and then went on with the lesson.

That statement intrigued me. For days I couldn’t shake the comment.

So I started reading from Proverbs – one chapter a day for a month. That month of reading and recording all the proverbs about money I could find so inspired me, I decided to read the entire Bible through in a year and record all the verses that discussed a money related theme. I would find over 400 passages in all…you can find them categorized here.

That exercise taught me that if God takes the issue of money and our use of it seriously then so should I.

Top 10 Proverbs About Money

To celebrate my 50th post in the Hidden Nuggets Series I’d like to list and rank my personal top 10 proverbs about money and share a brief snippet about what the verse means to me. Here they are from #10 to #1.

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A Student Debate: Are There Absolute Truths About Money and Personal Finance?

 

Truth written on notebook paperA philosophical debate in the existence of absolute truth sounds like a discussion for theology class. In fact, that’s what has been taking place in one of the Bible classes I teach at our private Christian school. The questions we have been exploring are polar opposites of one another:

“Is there an absolute truth that is valid for all people regardless of era, culture or circumstance?”

Or…

“Are all things relative? Does truth exist only in the person’s individual experience and based in their view of reality?”

Deep, I know.

I’ve been thinking about this for some time in relation to personal finances. To fully disclose, I do believe in absolutes and think they can be found in many areas of life, especially in mathematics and the sciences. Absolutes do not have to be limited to theological discussions.

So why can’t there be absolutes about money and the personal finance world – things that are universally true for all people no matter the culture or circumstance?

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For the Love of Money

VaultI brought this post out of The Vault today to do two things:

1) to remind myself on this Valentine’s Day the trap that awaits when I choose to put my affection in the wrong place and,

2) to introduce a new feature on Luke1428 called “Theology Thursdays.” It is my goal for Thursday’s post to include a spiritual perspective as it relates to our responsibilities towards money, wealth and personal finance.  Hopefully that will be a blessing to you as I share what is on my heart.

So with that introduction, re-enjoy “For the Love of Money” (first appeared on Aug. 3, 2012). 

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“Money money money money, MONEY!”

“Some people got to have it…some people really need it…Hey, listen to me, y’all do thangs, do thangs, do thangs – bad thangs with it.

Well, you wanna do thangs, do thangs, do thangs – good thangs with it…talkin’ about cash money…

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For the Love of Money

“Money money money money, MONEY!”

“Some people got to have it…Hey, Hey, Hey – some people really need it…Hey, listen to me, y’all do thangs, do thangs, do thangs – bad thangs with it

Well, you wanna do thangs, do thangs, do thangs – good thangs with it…talkin’ about cash money, money…Talkin’ bout cash money – dollar bills y’all…”

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Do You Want to be Debt Free?

Breaking the chains of debt is key to gaining financial freedom.

Where do you stand on the concept of debt?

It is huge issue in our culture today with proponents pushing both sides of the debate. And probably no Biblical issue about money has been more widely and passionately discussed than this one. We can all find justification for our particular position from the pages of the Bible or from just an everyday practical, money management standpoint.

So, the purpose of this post today is not to expound on and discuss the virtues or vices of debt. We will have plenty of time to do that at a later juncture. Rather it is to help us understand this one irrefutable core concept from Scripture…

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In All Labor There is Profit (Proverbs 14:23)

in all labor there is profitWe have been working our way through the seven core concepts or themes found in the Bible that deal with the topic of money. Today, its time for us to go to work, so grab your lunch pail and your tool belt. Here we go.

There is an interesting story in the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah has been granted permission by Artaxerxes, King of Persia, to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the wall around the city that lies in ruins. [Read more…]

Can Two Walk Together and Bring Financial Success?

My wife is really different than me. She is outgoing, a get-things-done-now driver, and loves to save money. I’m more reserved, prefer to take my time with decisions, and love to spend money.

Despite our different personality types, we really don’t argue about a whole lot because we have so much in common.

Both of us have a relationship with God that rests at the core of how we relate to one another.  We both enjoy the outdoors and the same type of foods.  We hold to similar views on politics, education, child rearing, and who our friends will be.

And, because we learned that statistics say a leading cause of divorce in America is financial related issues, we made sure to establish guidelines and parameters for our finances that met my needs, her needs and the needs of our children.

When Two Walk Together

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Successful Relationships Bring Financial Success (Part I)

couple arguingThe Bible is full of relationship issues.

In the first 13 chapters of Genesis alone we see a man who can’t say “no” to a woman when offered a piece of fruit; the murder of a sibling; a man deciding it was OK to marry more than one wife; humanity’s spiritual relationship with God being so strained that man is wiped off the earth (save for Noah and his family); and two relatives quarreling over land use for their livestock.

Ugh…What a mess! In the words of Jerry Seinfeld, “People…they’re the worst.”

Relationships with those around us are challenging enough and adding money issues to the equation can bring a whole new level of tension. Improperly managed relationships are financial dream killers. They can scuttle any hopes of building wealth.

Some Unhealthy Relationships

Any of these sound familiar?

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Count the Cost: Stick to the Plan to Win (Part 3 – Luke 14:28)

All of us want to finish our lives with honor and dignity. We want to look back over the years that we have been privileged to live hear on earth with a sense of pride, accomplishment and satisfaction that our lives have been well spent. We want to have reached our goals and contributed in some small way to the lives of those around us. We want to have been winners at life.

Wasn’t that the goal of the builder in Luke 14:28?

He wanted to win by finishing his tower. And he knew that weighing the costs of the project ahead of time in some serious get-down-to-business strategic planning sessions was going to help him accomplish his objective.

The point of the verse is about planning but the goal was to finish. What does “finishing” look like in regards to finances?

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Count the Cost: Find a Plan to Win (Part 2 – Luke 14:28)

George Bailey is beside himself at the prospects of living here.

Recently, a few miles from where I live, a house was sold for a minor sum of money after sitting vacant for years. The buyer, instead of choosing to live in the property, had the house bulldozed to the ground. Now this doesn’t seem like that uncommon of a thing to have happen to a property. After all, you have to make way for new construction, right?

The irony of the situation, however, is that it was new construction the buyer had leveled…well, at least it was new 7 years ago when they started building this beautiful, upper six-figure mansion of a house on a perfect, 5-acre corner lot of country land. No one had ever lived in that house. The original owner/builder only managed to get it about 75% completed.

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