Nearly 300 people attended the Financial Training Day held at the West Seattle campus on Saturday February 21st. It was an enriching and enlightening time of gaining fresh insights regarding this essential part of our lives. The refreshing part was the presentation of information from a Christian worldview.

We are bombarded daily by secular advice and news of the economy and financial markets. The wisdom of the age…conventional wisdom, spews forth from every media source. In 1 Cor 1:20b, we learn “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”

There is a fundamental difference regarding how God looks at money and that of men. God’s principles start the fact that he owns everything. 1 Chronicles 29:11 is one of many verses that declares this truth: “Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours.” Next God understands how we can be foolish stewards of money. Proverbs 22:7 states “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.”

According to Money-zine.com, “The latest statistics from the Federal Reserve indicate that the total amount of consumer debt outstanding remained fairly steady in 2007. In case you’re wondering the total amount of consumer debt in the United States stands at nearly $2.6 trillion dollars – and based on the latest Census statistics, that works out to be nearly $8,500 in debt for every man, woman and child that lives here in the US.” That’s an incredible amount of slavery and bondage.

The ways of the world dictate the following sequence or order:

1. Earn – get a job and produce an income
2. Spend – enjoy and indulge yourself…”you’ve worked hard and deserve it”
3. Pay bills – meet your financial obligations
4. Save – there isn’t much left over to save so that induces most of us to borrow and spend
5. Give – be charitable and a philanthropist – if there is anything left

God’s order about stewarding money is diametrically opposed to the ways of the world. His order is:

1. Earn – same starting point
2. Give – joyfully, generously and consistently of our first fruits
3. Save – see Proverbs 30:25 about the wisdom of the ant , saving and preparing for the future
4. Pay bills – be above reproach and meet financial obligations
5. Spend – fine to use this remaining amount on things that bless you and others

Whether you had the chance to hear our experts that Saturday or not, I urge us all to consider and pray about which system of managing money we subscribe to…God’s way, or the way of the world.

If you missed the Financial Training Day, Pastor Jamie Munson’s first session on “Faith or Fear” is available to listen to Here.