Managing Your Money

Did you know that average teenager spends $3000 a year!  That's an average taken from students who were 13 to 19 years of age so you can imaging the older students bring that average up and younger ones typically bring it down (unless you end up with a diva 13 year old!).  Parents and students spend a lot of money on school supplies, personal care products, gas and insurance, food, etc.  It all adds up!

I wonder, do students even realize how much money is spend on them in a year, a month, a week, or a day.  As a teenager, do you keep track of what you spend?  You may say, "Well I don't have a job...so I really don't spend a lot of money."  However, that doesn't take into account all the money your parents spend to buy you the things you want and need.  Believe it or not, you are a steward of your parents money!  And if all things are owned by God, the way you manage your parents money determines whether you are a steward or a prodigal.

In "Mastery of Materialism" John MacArthur pointed out that "16 out of 38 of Christ's parables deal with money; more is said in the New Testament about money than heaven and hell combined; five times more is said about money than prayer; and while there are 500 plus verses on both prayer and faith, there are over 2,000 verses dealing with money and possessions."  Money was obviously an important topic for Christ!  Why?  Like he said, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matt 6:21).  Jesus showed that money impacted the heart and the He was and is very much concerned for our hearts.  Mismanaging the resources that God provides is a symptom of a heart disease.

God gave us many examples of people in the bible who managed their resources well.  Joseph, for example was one of those people.  You remember the story.  How he was sold into slavery by his brothers but in every situation he found himself in he managed the resources he was given so well that his masters placed him in charge of everything until eventually he was second in command over all of Egypt just under Pharaoh!  In that position he was so successful that he saved the lives of all the surrounding countries during a severe famine because he had "filled up the storehouses."  Joseph saved and managed his resources so well that when famine came, he still had plenty to go around.  How are you doing at managing your money?  Do you keep track of your spending?  Next time we'll talk about the principles of budgeting and how they impact our stewardship.

Be Alert and Save!

Luke 12: 37 says, "Blessed are the servants whom the master shall find on the alert when he comes home."  In verse 44 he says, "he will put him in charge of all his possessions."  However, the servant that says, '"My master will be a long time coming and he begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk," he is a wicked servant.

Servant-hood requires stewardship.  It implies that you are put in charge of a task in which you have to manage your time, your gifts, and usually someone else's possessions.  That's stewardship!  In the passage above Jesus is speaking of the difference between a steward and a prodigal.  Remember a prodigal is one that squanders away his inheritance.  They shirk their responsibilities and focus completely on themselves rather than the task at hand.  All of us are given time, gifts, and possessions to manage properly.  When we take care of these things and use them properly we are like the servant whom the master finds "on the alert."

What does it look like to be "on the alert" when it comes to the way we handle our finances?  It means we are in control of them, not the other way around.  One aspect of controlling your money rather than letting it control you is saving.  If you make money and the first thing you do is put it all directly into your pocket, your purse or your checking account it will soon be gone!  That's why we use the phrase, "I've got some money burning a whole in my pocket."  When it is available and we see something we think we just "got to have," then we buy it and the money quickly disappears.  However, if you take a little of that money and put it in a savings account then when you stop at the convenient store you won't spend all $10 on junk food.  You still have $5 in the bank!


Saving is important for many reasons, but one is that it keeps you "on the alert" for emergencies.  Saving gives you an emergency fund that allows you to pay for things if something unexpected happens.  Like when you drop your phone and it breaks!  Some of you just expect your parents to get you a knew one.  But a steward saves and buys the new on his on.  Actually, the steward wouldn't drop their phone in the first place because they are not careless with their stuff.  However, we all know accidents happen.  So an emergency fund helps you in those situations.

Saving also allows you to purchase things that you've been waiting to buy.  Like a car when you turn 16!  Take a minute to listen to Rachel Cruz Ramsey's story of saving for a car.  (It's only 3 minutes!  Click on the link!) Watch video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dTNWe-9Kag

A Steward or a Prodigal?

What is a Steward?  Often times we put the adjectives "good" or "bad" in front of the word steward.  There's nothing terribly wrong with that.  Jesus shares a story about an "unrighteous" steward in Luke 16.  However, to be a steward of something implies that you are good at it.  It's kind of oxymoronic to say "bad steward."

Jesus also tells the story of the "prodigal" son.  Many of us mistake that word to mean "the son that ran away and came back home."  However, prodigal refers to the fact that the son squandered his inheritance away.  Remember the story?  His father gave him his inheritance and then he ran off and spent it and came back with nothing to show for it.  The wonderful part of the story is that the father forgave him and took him back in and threw a party for his homecoming.  That's a great story for us because many of us have squandered what God has given us yet He still loves us when we return to Him and run away from those practices.  However, we often forget to draw attention to the 'prodigal's' shortcomings.  He was a "bad" steward.  We can learn from his example.  Yes it's wonderful that God loves us enough to forgive us for our shortcomings, but we can avoid them in the first place with the a little help from the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 4:1-2  says, "Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.  In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy."  Have you ever thought about the fact that you are a steward of the "mysteries of God?"  He has given each of us a deposit, the Holy Spirit.  Our bodies are "temples of the Holy Spirit" (1 cor 16:19).  Through His Spirit He has revealed to us the "mysteries of God" found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  When God looks at your life would He say here is one of my "stewards?"  Or would He say, "here is one of my prodigal sons or daughters, I sure hope he/she comes home so I can remind him/her how to be a steward!"