It’s funny, money is often the most sought after thing in life, but nobody seems to be happy with it. Those who don’t seem to have enough are always chasing after more. Those who have plenty, always seem to be finding ways to either keep it to themselves or make more. It’s a never ending cycle.
It’s here that I would normally bring up the famous Gospel passage from Luke 20 which, considering today is Tax Day in the United States, would be appropriate. Read Luke 20:20-26. It’ll bring a smile to your face.
But, what about all the money in between? We give our money to Cesear (translation: current government), and we give our money to God (translation: tithing- you should be doing this no matter what)…but what about how we spend/use the rest of our money?
That is what this week’s Home Connection topic is going to be. How do we teach our families to properly spend money? How do we teach them to save money?
For today, I would like to present a real simple activity to help you teach your children how to handle their money. You will need three jars, boxes, or whatever you can use to put money into and three $1.00/person.
Give your child three $1.00 bills. Label one jar “spending”, one jar “saving”, one jar “tithing”. Show them how they take the $3.00 they have just received from you and put $1.00 in each of the jar.
Why do this? Why not put all of the money into one jar? When considering our money, its important to remember that all blessing come from God, including our money. He has called us to remember and rejoice in those blessings, while also supporting the greater work of His Kingdom- this is the tithing jar.
But, we also need to save money for what may come up in the future. This is not not trusting in God… but using what He has given to us to prepare for the future- the saving jar.
And finally, its okay to use God’s blessings in fun ways, as long as it is appropriate and does not become something we desire more than God Himself. So, its good to set aside a little money just for spending-the spending jar.
Pray for God’s continued blessings, wisdom and guidance as you endeavor to use what He has blessed you with in a pleasing manner to Him.
Now, I realize our monthly budget is much, much more complicated than this. However, this is a good way to begin to help your family understand the importance of being sure to thank God for all of His blessing, including providing what we need to sustain and enjoy this life, while being able to support the work of His Kingdom on Earth. Proper handling of money really comes down to where we put our faith and trust…and the answer should be God. Be sure to come back this week and read more articles on how to get a handle on this very important area of our lives.
The Home Connection 