Money and the Heart

If you've been around this blog for long you may have noticed that I like to ask why. Specifically, I like to know and understand why people do what they do. Why I do what I do. I am very interested in motivations of the heart. From the heart comes forth all actions in daily life. I am no expert but I just enjoy the study.

I have come to deeply understand, by difficult circumstances and foolish decisions, a key truth about money and motivation. I am still growing in this truth and I wish I didn't have to be reminded of it all the time: How I handle money is a direct window into the condition of my heart and its stance toward God. This truth applies even to the "good" things I do with money (i.e. paying off debt and giving.)



Quotes on Money and the Heart:

A man’s treatment of money is the most decisive test of his character- how he makes it and how he spends it.

James Moffatt

People are funny; they spend money they don’t have to buy things they don’t need to impress people they don’t like.

Author Unknown

The use of your money and how you give it is one of the best ways of evaluating your relationship with Christ and your spiritual trustworthiness. If you love Christ with all your heart, your giving will reflect that. If you love Christ and the work of His Kingdom more than anything else, your giving will show that. If you are truly submitted to the lordship of Christ, if you are willing to obey Him completely in every area of your life, your giving will reveal it. We will do many things before we will give someone else, even Christ, the rights over every dollar we have and ever will have. But if you have done that, it will be expressed in your giving. That’s why it’s said that your checkbook tells more about you than almost anything else.

Donald Whitney

Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, 1991, p. 146, Used by permission of NavPress – www.navpress.com, All rights reserved. For more information please see the website www.BibicalSpirituality.org.

The reason use of money and the things it buys is one of the best indicators of spiritual maturity and Godliness is that we exchange such a great part of our lives for it. Because we invest most of our days working in exchange for money, there is a very real sense in which our money represents us. Therefore, how we use it expresses who we are, what our priorities are, and what’s in our hearts. As we use our money and resources Christianly, we prove our growth in Christlikeness.

Donald Whitney

Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, 1991, p. 140, Used by permission of NavPress – www.navpress.com. All rights reserved. For more information please see the website www.BibicalSpirituality.org.

God owns it all and (you) are stewards of His resources...Because you are stewards of the resources God has entrusted to you, every financial decision you make is actually a spiritual decision. For many, that's a revolutionary concept. How you manage your finances is a pretty good barometer for the condition of your spiritual life.

Dennis Rainey

Preparing for Marriage, 1997, p. 195, 198, Gospel Light/Regal Books, Ventura, CA 93003, Used by Permission

Jesus Christ said more about money than about any other single thing because, when it comes to a man's real nature, money is of first importance. Money is an exact index to a man's true character. All through Scripture there is an intimate correlation between the development of a man's character and how he handles his money.

Richard C. Halverson

God can have our money and not have our hearts, but He cannot have our hearts without having our money.

Kent Hughes

Disciplines of a Godly Man, Crossway Books, 1991, p. 186.