Monetary Wisdom from the Proverbs

Proverbs 3:9-10    (NIV) “Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.”

Proverbs 6:1    (NLT) “My child, if you co-sign a loan for a friend or guarantee the debt of   someone you hardly know…”

Proverbs 8:18-21    (NIV) “With God are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity. His fruit is better than fine gold; what He yields surpasses choice silver. He walks in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice, bestowing wealth on those who love Him and making their treasuries full.”

Proverbs 10:4-5, 22    (NIV) “Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son… The blessing of the LORD brings wealth…”

Proverbs 11:4, 15, 24, 28    (NIV)  “Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death… He who puts up security for another will surely suffer, but whoever refuses to strike hands in pledge is safe… One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty...  Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.”

Proverbs 12:11    (NLT)  “Hard work means prosperity; only fools idle away their time.”

Proverbs 13:11, 22   (NLT)   “Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows.” (NIV)   “A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.”

Proverbs 14:20, 23-24    (NIV)   “The poor are shunned even by their neighbors, but the rich have many friends... All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. The wealth of the wise is their crown, but the folly of fools yields folly.”

Proverbs 15:6, 27    (NIV)  “The house of the righteous contains great treasure, but the income of the wicked brings them trouble. A greedy man brings trouble to his family, but he who hates bribes will live. “

Proverbs 16:8; 17:8   (NLT)   “It is better to be poor and godly than rich and dishonest… It is poor judgment to co-sign a friend’s note, to become responsible for a neighbor’s debt.”

Proverbs 20:13, 16   (NIV)   “Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare.” (NLT) “Be sure to get collateral from anyone who guarantees the debt of a stranger. Get a deposit if someone guarantees the debt of a foreigner.”

Proverbs 21: 5, 17, 20    (NIV)   “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty… He who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich… In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has.”

Proverbs 22:2, 4, 7, 9, 26-27    (NIV)   “Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all… Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life… The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender… A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor. Do not be a man who strikes hands in pledge or puts up security for debts; if you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched from under you.” 

Proverbs 23:4-5   (NIV)   “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle…

Proverbs 28: 6, 11, 19-20, 27   (NIV)   “Better a poor man whose walk is blameless than a rich man whose ways are perverse… A rich man may be wise in his own eyes, but a poor man who has discernment sees through him… He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty. A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished…  He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.”

Proverbs 30:8-9   (NIV)   “Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.”

Bonus: Ecclesiastes 5:10, 12-15, 18-20   (NIV)   “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income… The sleep of a laborer is sweet,    whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep. I have seen a   grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner, or wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when he has a son there is nothing left for him. Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand… Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.”

Monetary Teachings from Jesus

Mathew 25:14-18   (The Message Bible)   “The kingdom of God is like a man going off on an extended trip. He called his servants together and delegated responsibilities. To one he gave five thousand dollars, to another two thousand, to a third one thousand, depending on their abilities. Then he left. Right off, the first servant went to work and doubled his master’s investment. The second did the same. But the man with the single thousand dug a hole and carefully buried his master’s money.

“After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them. The one given five thousand dollars showed him how he had doubled his investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’

“The servant with the two thousand showed how he also had doubled his master’s investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’

“The servant given one thousand said, ‘Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error. I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.’

“The master was furious. ‘That’s a terrible way to live! It’s criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest.

“‘Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this “play-it-safe” who won’t go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness.’

Luke 6:32-34   (NIV)   Jesus is speaking, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full.”

Luke 12:13-21   (NIV)   Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”   Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

And Jesus told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

“This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

 Luke 16:10-13   (NIV)   Jesus is speaking, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?” 

“No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

“Renew your finances… Renew your life!”