Stewardship: Meeting Your Family's Material Needs

This man had failed to realize a proper set of priorities.

He had succeeded in making material provision for his own. In the process he had neglected certain spiritual and emotional needs, totally alienating his children, and perhaps even his wife. Are you concentrating too much on making material provision to the neglect of spiritual and emotional priorities?

Question Three: What kind of model are you?

People learn from models. Much of what you do has been learned from watching other people. If you have been fortunate enough to understudy a successful business person, you have probably found yourself copying that person's methods and even lifestyle. Right now, someone is copying you. You teach your children more by your performance than by what you tell them. They adopt your attitudes. They learn from you what money is. They learn from you how to make it. They learn from you how to spend it.

For example, if they know that your commitment to Christ is so strong that you tithe -- giving ten percent before taxes to the work of Jesus Christ -- they will respect the seriousness of your commitment. Even if they choose never to tithe, there will always be that haunting sense of remembering that Mom and Dad put their money where their profession of faith was. They will know the authenticity of your love of Christ in this crass, commercial world.

If they see you save, putting aside a percentage of your income for future emergencies, they will have a model. Are they seeing you manage your money with an eye to providing for the future?

When we talk about making material provision, we are not just talking about money. This involves your habits of life.

Do you exercise? Do you watch your diet? Are you a good steward of the physical resources God has given to you? Your children are looking to you for a model. Do you smoke? Just a moment -- this preacher is beginning to meddle, isn't he? Some years ago, the now out-of-business National Observer had an article entitled, "Smoke Dream ... Quit Tobacco and Make a Fortune." It gave a hot financial tip for young people, describing a sure-fire way to boost your net worth substantially, at no risk at all, and have a fat nest egg when you retire. Simply don't smoke, and invest the money you save.

Our children watch us closely. They are shaped by our good habits and our bad habits. Some of these habits have horrendous implications. Fortunately, many have stopped smoking. But there are other negative habits that model destructive patterns for our loved ones.

Are you a good model of stewardship, showing how to best live your life?

Question Four: Are you prepared for tough times?

In all our stress on providing for our own, we have to face the fact that there are times of economic reversal. Seldom does a family get through life without economic strains. Reversal is a part of life. Fascinatingly enough, if there is a pattern of good, hard work, the tough times don't permanently hurt. In fact, they help pull the family together and teach the children lessons they could learn no other way.