Although money is a gift from God and has an important role in our lives, it is a root cause of all the recent conflicts at the individual, family, and international levels. 

The Bible has established basic principles for using money to promote human happiness and serve mankind.  These principles have been defined to prevent us from making money into another god and worshipping it. 

What are these principles? 

1.  Money is a Gift 
 "God ... gives us richly all things to enjoy" (1 Tim. 6: 17).  So whatever income we get, it is a real gift from God.  If God had not given us life, we would not have received this money, and if he had not granted us scientific, professional, and artistic abilities, we would have been unable to achieve anything.  In addition, if God  had  not  granted  us  health, we would not have been able to use our different members in acquiring this money.  For example, the artist uses his hand, the engineer uses his sight, and the athlete uses his feet, and so on. 
 Therefore, the Holy Bible teaches us to talk to God when we are offering charity to a poor individual or to the church saying:  "All things come from You, and of Your own we have given You.." (1 Chron. 29: 14).

2.  Money is Not Essential for Life
 The Lord said: "One's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses." (Lk. 12: 15), and He also said: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Mt. 4:4).  "For in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17: 28).

Hence life - and health too - is a gift of God.  All our efforts to live or to enjoy  good  health  can fail, for  whatever we spend or however far we travel to achieve these goals, life is from Him and health is from Him.  We strive within our limitations to have a good life, but we are sure that money cannot give it to us.

3.  Money is Not Essential for Happiness
 "Better is a dry morsel with quietness, than a house full of feasting  with  strife"     (Prov. 17: 1).  Happiness is a spiritual and psychological  quality  which  comes from enjoying a living relationship with God: a soul at peace, a mind at rest, knowing God's forgiveness, and a genuine love for people whoever and whatever they may be.

Hence, we ask:  "Can we buy happiness with money?"  Impossible, for on the contrary, too much money has often caused the unhappiness of its owners.  They worry about how they can keep it, invest it, and use it to make themselves happy with a false happiness, and so end up doing what is wrong.

4.  Money is Transitory
St. Paul says: "Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God" (1 Tim 6: 17). This is a fact; money is uncertain.  It may come today and go tomorrow.  A man may make a fortune today and lose it for various reasons at the same time.  A man should not rely on it or depend on it, so that he does not come crashing down.

5.  Money Is a Talent
 The Bible commands those who are rich to   "Do good, that they may be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come: (1 Tim. 6: 18 - 19).

So what is required is that we invest the money to the glory of Jesus Christ and in the comfort and salvation of our fellow human beings, especially those in the faith.  "It is more  lessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20: 35).  The more we give, the more blessings we have. "The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself." (Prov. 11: 25).  In fact, many who were rich were also rich in faith and good works and rendered humanity innumerable services.

We are stewards over :unrighteous mammon (Lk. 16: 1- 15).  This means that money does not belong to us but is a gift of God exactly like the money that the unjust steward used to buy  friends  with.   It was not his money but belonged to his master and he used it to purchase friends.  Although what he did was wrong because he took what was not his, the Lord asks us to learn from the " the sons of this age" how to invest what is the Lord's to invest in gaining friends  who  will  pray  for  us.   The Lord has entrusted us with this money so let us use it wisely and conscientiously.  We take of it what we need and leave the rest to God to use as He sees fit, maybe to serve someone who is needy, or to meet an emergency.

The Lord forbids our extravagance: "The drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty" (Prov. 23: 21).  He encourages us to take up the pieces left over to serve others (Mt. 15: 37).

6.  Money Is Not to Be Depended Upon
To depend on money is to deny God.  The Lord said: "How hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the  kingdom of God!" (Mk.  10: 24), or as Job said: "If I had made gold my hope or said to fine gold 'You are my confidence' ... I would have denied God Who is above" (Job 31: 24 -28).

The problem lies in considering money as a pillar in life and a support for the future.  This doesn't mean that we should not save,   for   saving  is    different from depending on money.  Saving means keeping the excess money aside and offering it to God to use as He wills, either for service or in an emergency.

We must believe that God is essentially our sole supporter while money is not, for "He who trusts in his riches will fall" (Prov. 11: 28).

7.  Money Is Not to Be Craved
The people who love money falls into divers evils: theft, embezzlement, and illegal actions because they want to become rich.  "Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation  and  a  snare,    and   into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown   men  in    destruction    and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil." (1 Tim. 6: 9 - 10).

When God said: "No servant can serve two master.... you cannot serve both god and mammon" (Lk. 16: 13), He meant that the love of money is opposed to the worship of God.

8.  Enough is Enough!
People are always trying to improve their personal income.  They deep changing jobs in the search of a higher income, but their main aim is to have enough, not to be wealthy or to live luxuriously and extravagantly.  There is a vast difference between the two things, for: "Godliness with contentment is great gain" (1 Tim. 6: 6);  "Be content with such things as you have" (Heb. 13: 5).  "God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, have an abundance for every good work (2 Cor 9: 8).

Having  enough  should be the norm:  "Give us this day our daily bread."  This is a contented comfortable life  lived  to the glory of God. God wants us to be happy, not miserable.  He gave us the right to have enough.  But as for pleasure, "She who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives" (1 Tim. 5: 6).

As for what people admire and pursue,  "All that is in the world- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father but is of the world.  and  the world   is  passing   away, and the lust of it (1 Jn. 2: 16 -17).

9.  Planning a Budget
A Christian must plan the family  budget.   A  couple  must  put their money together with honesty, and then budget for their needs in accordance to their priorities:

For God:  the 'firstfruits', the tithes, and the vows.
For each partner: a suitable sum of money for personal expenses.
For the family: its daily and monthly expenses.
For the children: a family must plan a better future for its children.
For the parents: when they have a special need.
Savings: we must allow God to act according to His will either for the family or for others.

The spirit of understanding, generosity, love, and justice must prevail in this matter. Many families have broken up because of money, even though it should not have so much weight in our lives.

END

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