Bible and Money: Faith Foundations of MH4C

This post is a continuation of a series on MH4C Faith Foundations where I am introducing my readers to the core beliefs of MH4C.

What is the Goal of Money Help For Christians?

While I hope the title is a good first indication, it is also somewhat misleading. In fact, if I could go back and change the title I would. Unfortunately, some readers have assumed that Money Help For Christians represents an organization that gives help, in the form of money, to Christians. While I wish MH4C would grow to the point of having a serious influence on issues like poverty, MH4C is currently only a man with a small pocketbook and a big vision.

The Purpose of Money Help For Christians

Money Help For Christians promotes a frugal, simple, debt-free, and generous lifestyle so Christians can faithfully maximize their resources by putting them at the disposal of God’s Kingdom. MH4C is committed to providing relevant resources in order to assist Christians in this effort.

The Four Relevant Foundations of MH4C:

Frugal, simple, debt-free, and generous living

While the goal of MH4C could be to help you out-earn your life style so that you could give an abundance, I ultimately believe that our first task as Christians is to be faithful with the little we have. Changing your lifestyle – to frugal, simple, debt-free, and generous living – will ultimately improve the quality of live – regardless of your income.

While our prevailing cultural motto is work like crazy and spend like crazy, I prefer a lifestyle that is a little more archaic. It’s about doing what you love and feeling passionate and invigorated. It is about living based on your own terms and definitions, not because you envy what others have.  It is a stress-free existence that enjoys God’s good creation. I think those desires are rooted in four key terms – frugal, simple, debt-free, and generous living.

Faithfully Maximize Resources

Whatever we have is offered as a gift. Yes, certainly you may have worked hard (extremely hard even), but unless God had willed those opportunities and employment opportunities, success would not have happened. Thus, I fundamentally believe all that I have (and all I am) was received by the grace of God.  I apply this belief to all facets of life – even finances.  That grace is one I could have squandered, but instead it was capitalized on for the sake of the gospel. As a result, what I do with God’s things will be described as faithful or unfaithful.

Maximizing your God given resources might mean fully developing, exploring, and perfecting your income earning opportunities – for the sake of the Kingdom. Maximizing your God-given resources might mean calling a second store for a quote so that those savings might be used faithfully. Maximizing your resources may mean purchasing the appropriate amount of life insurance to ensure that your family is provided for.

Disposal of God’s Kingdom

The word disposal is not intended to relate to its synonyms. The goal is not to waste your resources. Instead, it means to relinquish control and put it to the service of God’s Kingdom. This concept is likened to the action of Joseph (Barnabas) who sold a piece of land and laid it at the feet of the apostles (Acts 4:36-37). Those funds that were previously managed by Barnabas have now be offered to be used at the disposal of the Kingdom of God. This control-releasing action transfers ownership from self to God.

Providing Relevant Resources

The task of frugal, simple, debt free, and generous living cannot be accomplished without a basic knowledge of financial workings. It is hard to faithfully maximizing resources if you don’t know anything about how money works.  If you want to make your dollars go further, you will need to know where to get the bargains.  If you want to grow what you currently have, you will need to know some investing basics. If you want to retain what you currently earn you will need to understand the positive and negative power of interest. While few of these ‘type’ of articles are inherently biblical if a proper framework is in place – to use cost savings a the disposal of God’s kingdom – our actions do then become very biblical. ¿Qué es un pata negra? – El cerdo ibérico

Here is an example of some relevant resources on MH4C:

Top 10 Christian Personal Finance Books

A Sneak Peak Into Our Budgeting Process

What is the Cheapest Way to Exchange Foreign Currency?

Does Spending Cash Really Save More Than Using a Credit Card?

How To Find the Best Prices on Books

MH4C core beliefs about the Bible and money

1. Wealth, possession, and accumulation – the material world – is not evil.  God made the world good and intended it for our pleasure.
2. The gospel call is specific to individual lives.  At times what God calls you to do and what God calls your neighbor to do might be different.  Consider the rich young ruler who was asked to sell everything and Zaccheus who was declared saved after only giving away half. 
3. Money has possessive qualities, but can be used for the good of God’s kingdom. The Bible focuses on using money as a tool for meeting the needs of others.
4. The goal of Christian finances is not wealth building, but to honor God with our resources.
5. When Christians reach a comfortable financial destination their efforts must shift to meeting the needs of others.
6. Financial freedom is not the goal, but instead finding the right financial master. Our financial goal is to become financially dependent on God and his will for us.
7. Our financial freedom is used not for self indulgence, but for service (Gal. 5:13).
8. Adopting a simple and frugal lifestyle releases Christians from the constant pressures of materialism.
9. Financial peace is the result of debt free living and faithful stewardship.
10. Money is a trust from God and faithfulness is the goal.
11. Money can improve the quality of life, but ultimately cannot offer happiness.
12. The Bible often focuses on our attitude toward money, but this does not mean God is unconcerned about our actions with money.

One Final Reminder About Money and Christianity

I want to be the first to admit that the financial element of our spirituality is just a piece. Stewardship is about more than money.  There are many other crucial and important topics. We need to be learning skills for studying our Bible, marriage communication, childrearing, evangelism, and many other important topics. However, in order to focus my attention and energy I typically focus on the important component of the Bible and money.  It is a spiritually healthy habit to balance your study of all of these topics that are important for Christian living.

Photo by mufan96.

Other Great Articles:

1. Bible and Money Page Updated | My 10 Favorite Bible and Money Posts
2. *NEW* Bible and Money Page Added
3. Are Some Money Topics Unrelated to the Bible?