Today on MoneyLife with Chuck Bentley

Have you made New Year's resolutions? I'd love to hear about them, especially financial ones. I'd also like to pray over them. Please email them to me at ChuckBentley@Crown.org. I'd love to encourage you and follow you throughout the year to see how you do with them.

I h0pe you’re following the situation in Haiti and praying for the people affected by the earthquake. A lot of help is needed there and many relief agencies have responded.

If you haven’t given yet to financially support the relief efforts, pray about doing that. Give to an effective relief organization that is doing the work in the name of Christ. This is a great opportunity to give a cup of water in the name of the Lord.

We're going to continue his series today on Learning to Live Skillfully, crawn from Proverbs.
Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. CS Lewis said nothing made sense apart from God. When we try to live man’s way, everything is upside-down. The world’s beliefs don’t make sense to Christians.

A Swedish scientist is glad the birth rate in the developing world is declining. He believes that having fewer children means people will have higher incomes. The world’s message is to stop having children so you can have more money. It’s selfish, greedy, foolishness that’s called scientific wisdom.

The birthrate is tied to what people believe about money. God’s Word speaks about money and how we can live skillfully and with wisdom.

God gave us Proverbs to teach us principles about wisdom. The truth of God's Word has been tested over time and proven to work. It starts with the fear of the Lord. If you want to be wise, live in reverent awe of the Lord and have a heart attitude of humility. Until you do, you’ll look to the world for wisdom, for something, anything that works, but you won’t find it. Wisdom is found in the Lord.

Here's how to live skillfully:

1. Learn to listen. Many of the Proverbs begin with a call to listen. When you’re humble, you can really listen and discern what someone is saying. It gives you the opportunity to receive wise counsel.
   
   
2. Continually learn. Take in knowledge and information and compare it to God’s Word to discern for wisdom.
   
   
3. Avoid making financial commitments you can’t keep. Be careful about how you handle money. Guard against unwise entanglements. Most people can identify with having made a foolish decision and getting trapped financially. If that’s where you are, you need to get out of financial bondage.
   
   Go to the person or organization you made the unwise financial commitment to and begin talking about a way to get out of it. Don’t ignore the problem because it won’t get better with time. If you’ve made a financial commitment to a family member that you’re concerned about being able to keep, try to undo it in a godly way. Go to that person and talk about how it could be restructured or done differently.
   
   Don’t co-sign for your children. Tell them why you choose not to co-sign, that God’s Word discourages it and you’re trying to live by God’s wisdom. Parents feel obligated when children want to borrow money from them. Children don’t like to wait and save. When children want you to loan them money, use the opportunity to teach them. Tell them God’s word says it is unwise to cosign, make loans.
   
   Tell them you’ll help them but not through the ways of the world that violate God’s financial principles. You may want to give the money to start a business or do something that will help them earn money. It may take longer for them to do what they want to do, or they may have to accept less than what they wanted, but there won’t be the stress and anxiety of being in financial bondage. The slow way is often the best way. What’s convenient isn’t always wise.
   
   
4. Learn to save money. We think of ants as pests, but Solomon saw them as a teaching tool from God. The ants teach us about saving. Learn to save money for yourself because no one will do it for you. Hard days will come as they are now; we won’t always have prosperity. The economy is showing Christians that it can’t be trusted.
   
   God has told us to put our trust in Him and be prepared for hard days. If we live only for our own pleasure and comfort, we will come to poverty. We will be foolish and suffer from living in man’s economy. God wants us to learn and apply His wisdom skills.

Please email me about this lesson, ChuckBentley@Crown.org, and share the wisdom God has taught you.

Scripture says sluggards come to poverty. A sluggard is someone who won’t listen, learn, or work. You probably know someone like that. The best way to help them isn’t to give them money but to teach them wisdom skills.

Suffering often brings us to a point of humility where we are ready to learn. We suffer when we violate God’s truth. Chuck Swindoll says pain is the flag planted in the fortress of a rebel’s heart. A rebel is always hurting inside.

We've got two listener events coming up in February, Thursday, February 11 in Atlanta and Thursday, February 18 in Chattanooga.

These are stops on the God Provides™ film tour, and I'll be teaching, too. These events are family friendly and free, so bring your children. We'll be showing Abraham and Isaac and the Widow and Oil films. You can register here.

This is not a fundraising event and there's no charge to attend. I encourage you to see God as your provider during these difficult economic times. I hope you’ll make plans to be there if you live in those areas. If you do, please say hello and let me know you're a MoneyLife listener.

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Other Resources:

• ABCs of Money Package
• Career Direct
• God's Principles for Operating a Business
• Business By the Book
• Crown Mvelopes