Great Expectations

Without taking away from the joys, rewards, and those extra-special moments of motherhood, I do want to acknowledge that the daily tasks of that assignment can be a grind! Washing mounds of laundry; ironing; folding; cleaning; shopping; cooking; carpooling; being a referee, coach, encourager, counselor, cop; remaining tactful, lovable, compassionate, cheerful, responsible, balanced, and sane (!)—every day

The Difference Wisdom Makes

On the day before a lottery drawing for more than $600 million, a reporter announced that 40 percent of past lottery grand-prize winners were broke within five years. I was stunned by that figure—I expected it to be higher! That’s because I have personally seen this next money-management principle in action.

The Value of Money

You’ve probably heard the expression “Money can’t buy happiness.” Personally, I struggle with that statement because I can think of a lot of things I could buy that would make me very happy! At least for a while. That said, I can also very much affirm—based on personal experience—the absolute validity of the fifth biblical principle concerning money.

A Difficult Choice

As we continue examining God’s money-management principles, we discover a connection between wisdom and wealth. 3. Wisdom gives wealth guidance. If you have a choice between wisdom and wealth, count on it: wisdom is much to be preferred! With wisdom, you stand a better chance of gaining more wealth, but wealth cannot buy wisdom. And should you be fortunate enough to gain wealth, wisdom will keep you out of trouble.

Where Your Treasure Is

While studying the book of Proverbs, I discovered several principles that helped me understand money management from God’s perspective. These aren’t tax-saving tips or strategies for gaining wealth, although doing things God’s way certainly can’t hurt. The Lord is more concerned about how our handling of money affects our spiritual life and how our finances impact our relationship with Him and His people.

Truth and Freedom

Few “grinds” in life are more nerve-racking and energy draining than those that result from financial irresponsibility. Many are the headaches and heartaches of being overextended. Great are the worries of those, for example, who continue to increase their indebtedness, spend impulsively, or loan money to others indiscriminately.

Freedom in Truth

Ants, conies, locusts, and lizards offer very significant illustrations of virtues everyone can apply to their life. These four animals also demonstrate how to escape the daily grind of excuse making. These four diverse creatures share a common predicament: they are relatively small, fairly powerless, and easily destroyed. But these species continue to thrive because, for each, a particular virtue more than offsets their disadvantages:

Helpfulness

As we consider Agur’s fourth and final animal illustration, we must wrestle with an unusually enigmatic proverb. We typically encounter this problem whenever a statement depends heavily upon a shared cultural experience that no longer exists. For example, the American expression “He came to me with his hat in his hand” depends heavily upon the shared experience of the Great Depression.

Cooperation

Great civilizations often achieve great things because they have a great leader who casts a vision, marshals their resources, organizes their members, inspires their action, and of course, goes before them. People generally fare better when they have a leader, when someone helps them cooperate and accomplish what can only be achieved with a coordinated effort. But what if there is no leader?

Prudence

As the great theologian and sage Clint Eastwood once said, “A man’s got to know his limitations.” Children enter the world with no concept of the word can’t. Soon, however, the world begins to teach them that some things are, indeed, beyond their reach. By the time we reach adulthood, several defeats have helped delineate our capabilities.

Tag Archives: Proverbs