Managing Money

My husband and I were not Christians when we met. He wanted to marry but I told him not until he was free of debt. He struggled with that, not wanting to make the sacrifice. In 1988, we were invited by a friend to take a class that set his family on the road to debt-free living, Larry Burkett's How to Manage Your Money. I was interested. Dennis might disagree with me, but how could he disagree with God?

The class led in time not only to Dennis' decision to do what it took to become debt-free, but to our salvation and a happy marriage. Years later, friends struggling with financial issues asked us to present the class that had made such a difference for us. We used Larry Burkett's video series to accompany the book (videos may no longer be available, but I found some used audiotapes on Amazon). I found used copies of the book on Amazon for as little as 37¢. Even if you're really poor, you can probably round up 37¢ and postage.

It has been our experience that people who can least afford it spend the most. It has also been our experience that most people would rather covet, envy, even hate "the rich" rather than make the sacrifices it takes to become financially secure. I've wondered at time if some of my friends consider people evil because they're rich, or rich because they're evil? As I see it, being rich has nothing to do with being evil, though wealth brings power and power can corrupt. It doesn't need to corrupt, but it can.

Many Christians wrongly abridge 1 Timothy 6:10. Money is not the root of evil! Love of money is a root of all kinds of evil! You don't have to have money to love money and having money doesn't necessarily mean you love money. Money itself is neutral. It can be used for good or for ill. Loving it, placing too high a priority on it, is what leads to evil. A telling question to ask yourself is, "Do I love people and use money, or do I use people and love money?"

In addition to the tapes and book, we used some excellent supplemental information, organized below according to the lessons in the book:

In case you're wondering why some links are missing, I didn't write additional materials for Lessons 10-12, just used the book and tapes.