What and how do you teach your children about money?
Would you try to guide your kids on what they should spend their money on? Do you try to extol the virtues of saving for a rainy day? Or do you emphasise the importance of a good bargain? There are even financial literacy courses for kids that teach young ones the basics of investing and how they can grow their wealth.
As Christian parents, we have another resource to turn to that can act as our guide in teaching our children about money. The Bible offers much advice on money—specifically, God’s take on wealth and riches. If what the Word of God says about wealth is to be heard and heeded by all of God’s people, then we need to impart its wisdom to our children as well.
Here are some pointers you can use to explain God’s purpose for wealth and money to your children.
It’s Tough To Be A Kid
Get our latest children’s resource!
It’s Tough To Be A Kid: Walking Together Through Life’s Tricky Moments, is now available.Get a copy
Every month, we roll out a new resource for parents and children. To find out about these offers, why not subscribe to our email updates? Stay informed about the latest resources available, and be the first to get a copy!
1. Wealth Comes from God
The Bible makes clear that it is God who gives wealth. 1 Samuel 2 tells us of God’s sovereignty over all things:
“The Lord sends poverty and wealth, he humbles and he exalts.”
(1 Samuel 2:7)
Possessing wealth is not a sin if it is acquired honourably and used wisely. However, we must be aware that with riches come dangers to be faced and duties to be fulfilled. As parents, we need to share these warnings and instructions with our children.
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
(1 Timothy 6:10)
Possessing wealth is not a sin if it is acquired honourably and used wisely. However, we must be aware that with riches come dangers to be faced and duties to be fulfilled.
Wealth is from God, but the love of money can lead us away from God. The Bible specifically warns us against pursuing money for its own sake.
2. Wealth Does Not Determine Your Value
In 1 Timothy 6:17–19, Paul instructs Timothy concerning the rich in the Christian community.
“Command those who are rich in this present world
not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth,
which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God,
who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”
(1 Timothy 6:17)
There is a peculiar danger that is attached to those endowed with riches—they tend to grow arrogant. If Christians are not vigilant, it is easy to fall into believing the lie that our worth is determined by our financial status. In Jeremiah 9:23, we are told: “Let not . . . the rich man boast in his riches.”
If Christians are not vigilant, it is easy to fall into believing the lie that our worth is determined by our financial status.
The Christian who has money must be alert to the danger of treating people as though they are less significant simply because they have less. We need to teach our children that having money does not make them superior, nor does it allow them to treat others with contempt.
3. Wealth Is Temporary
In 1 Timothy 6:17, Paul refers to riches “in this present world”. Our lives on earth are only for a very short time, and all that we have attached significance to will be totally irrelevant. This is why Jesus says a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions (Luke 12:15). We will leave this earth naked, just as we had arrived naked.
“For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.”
(1 Timothy 6:7)
Money is only for the present age, so we are to focus on using it well, not on accumulating it.
At the same time, it does not mean that Christians need to disengage completely from wealth. When God gives us money, He has a purpose for that money. The real challenge for us is to have it and not be held by it, to be entrusted with it and not be pompous.
How? It helps to realise that the currency is only good on earth. Money is only for the present age, so we are to focus on using it well, not on accumulating it.
4. Wealth Does Not Bring Certainty
Life is uncertain, and so is wealth. Paul tells the rich not to “put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain” (1 Timothy 6:17).
Many of us tend to assume that just because some people are endowed with more material wealth, they are doing okay. But life is equally fragile and unpredictable for the wealthy.
When we find security in having money and possessions, we stop focusing on God as our security.
When we find security in having money and possessions, we stop focusing on God as our security. We forget what truly matters. As we teach our children not to put their confidence in money, we must also model that in our lives by not making a big deal of the things money can buy.
5. Trust God, Not Money
More than half of divorces are said to be due to arguments about money. A significant number of contentions and strife among God’s people is also over the issue of money.
When we find ourselves either running from money or running to it, it’s because we do not come to a biblical understanding of money. We need to learn to trust in the Giver rather than in the gifts. In 1 Timothy 6:17, Paul describes God as the one “who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”
We need to learn to trust in the Giver rather than in the gifts
God is the provider of all things, and He provides these things for us to enjoy. The enjoyment of God’s providence is not illegitimate nor self-indulgent. As God’s children, we don’t have to rely on money because we can rely on God.
6. Use Money to Do Good
If we have money, what should we do with it? Paul continues his instruction in 1 Timothy 6:18: “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” We can unpack this verse for our children:
- “do good”: Just as Paul commands the believers, parents can tell their kids: “There’s a lot of good we can do with our money. Because we’re here only for a very short period of time, let’s make an investment in eternity, and start doing good now.”
- “be rich in good deeds”: Not only does Paul want believers who are rich to do good, but he also wants them to be rich in doing good—to overflow with good deeds. Instead of asking ourselves, “What’s the minimum amount of good that I have to do?”, we need to ask ourselves, “What more can I do?”
Our generosity can reflect how prepared we are to view our resources as God-given and to be used for the good of others.
- “be generous”: Wealth is a responsibility. It will ruin those who hoard it and those who use it to enrich only themselves. In the parable of the sower, the seeds that were choked by thorns refer to people who are preoccupied with riches and the worries of life, and become unfruitful (Matthew 13:7, 22). Our generosity can reflect how prepared we are to view our resources as God-given and to be used for the good of others.
- “(be) willing to share”: We are to be willing to take what God has given us and use it in meeting the needs of the distressed and needy. If it’s right to ask people to use their gifts in serving, leading, guiding, and caring, why can’t we also ask others to share their wealth? Is it because today, we tend to regard the use of money as a private matter? As theologian Augustine noted, we will draw greater joy from sharing what we have, than sorrow for what we hoard and is ultimately lost. May we be able to say at the end of our lives: “What I kept, I lost. What I gave, I have.”
7. Money Is a God-given Responsibility
If we do good, are generous, and are willing to share, then we will become richer and not poorer, because our ultimate investment security is the bank of heaven.
“In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves
as a firm foundation for the coming age,
so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”
(1 Timothy 6:19)
If we do good, are generous, and are willing to share, then we will become richer and not poorer, because our ultimate investment security is the bank of heaven.
Here are some practical tips on teaching our children about the stewardship of money.
- Impress upon them from a young age that since all they have come from God, they are to be good stewards.
- Help them make distinctions between what money can and cannot do in various situations. You can talk about how current problems around you and in the world can or cannot be solved with money. This will help them to see the limitations and temporal nature of money.
- To reinforce the concept that wealth is temporary, ask your children to make a list of things they can take with them when they die. Use this opportunity to talk about why it is not possible to bring money along.
- Monitor your child’s spending. Teach them to consider not just what is “value for money”, but more importantly, what is “eternal value for money”.
- Ask your child: “What good can you do to others with your money or savings?” Look out for the needs of others, and discuss how their savings can be used to bless others, such as mission work, people who are needy, and charitable causes.
- Teach them to set aside part of their allowances for tithes. Explain to them from the Bible why this is important.
