Brother Solomon Joves: We’ve got a special episode for you.
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Today’s topic: Teaching Kids Money
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My husband and I recently had a discussion about the proper way of teaching our kids on how to save money and budgeting.
We would just like to ask how young should we teach our kids about this matter. Is it better to start at a young age or should we wait until they are older?
Brother Solomon: We received a viewer request and in this episode, we’re going to look into a common parenting challenge: Teaching our children about money management and budgeting. We’ve tackled the subject of money before on the show. The Bible is full of lots of instruction when it comes to money, including advice and warnings. Parenting our children, so that they are equipped for a bright and solid future, is a challenge and fortunately, the Bible gives us the solution.
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The light
The Answer
The Solution
Brother Solomon: Parents know that they need to teach their children about how to save money and how to budget their money. When should parents start teaching their children about how to handle money? The Bible answers this question with a very significant verse for Christian parents,…
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Brother Solomon Joves
Minister of the Gospel
Brother Solomon: …a verse that we should study in depth to get a fuller understanding of our role as parents. In Proverbs 22:6, this is what the Bible says:
Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old, he will not depart from it.
[Proverbs 22:6 New King James Version]
Brother Solomon: Did you notice here how the Bible says we should raise our children? It says that we should train them in the way they should go. Training is, after all, something parents should not leave to chance. The key to successful parenting is child training, as laid down by the Holy Scriptures. One cannot overstate its value. But since training is not an overnight process, parents must give ample time for it.
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Training Children Does Not Happen Overnight
Brother Solomon: They must allow or provide enough opportunities for the use of genuine teachable moments, for proper understanding to develop. So let’s return to our first question. When should we start teaching our children about budgeting? The answer is to start training them once our respective children are able to understand. If the intention of the training is money management, we can train them after they have an understanding of numbers. But even before our children learn the concept of paper bills and coins, and their different values and functions, they should first know who the source of everything is.
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Children Should Know About God First
Brother Solomon: Children should know about God before they know about money, because He is the source of everything we need. He is the Creator.
What should we teach our children about when we tell them about God? In Psalms 100:3-4 this is what the Bible teaches:
Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He Who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless His name.
[Psalms 100:3-4 New King James Version)
Brother Solomon: What do we teach our children about God? They must know that He created us. What should children know about their relationship with God? Well, if they are members of the Church Of Christ, they are His people. They have entered into His gate, the Lord Jesus Christ, by means of membership in His body, and therefore they have the duty to offer thanksgiving to God.
Now what does knowledge about the true God have to do with instruction on budgeting and money management? Well, even before money was used, in buying and selling, the people of God have always set aside a portion of the material blessings they received from God to offer to Him as a sacrifice.
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Christians Set Aside Thank Offerings
Brother Solomon: What does God expect from His people, and how they manage their resources, and set aside for their thank offerings? Let’s read again from the Bible. In Hebrews, chapter 13, verses 15 to 16, this is what the Bible teaches us:
Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
[Hebrews 13:15-16 New King James Version]
Brother Solomon: What kind of sacrifices please God? We should offer thanks to Him by “the fruit of our lips” or by praising Him with our words. We are also instructed “to do good and to share” by means of thank offerings. Part of our money management instruction, as Christian parents, is to teach our children to set aside, from what they have earned, as a sacrifice of thanks to God. God desires a consistent attitude of thanksgiving among His children, not just an occasional act of gratitude. In our money management training, we should constantly ensure learning experiences to help our children understand and develop the right cheerful attitude, so that they will always fulfill this duty as children of God.
Presently, money is how we typically pay for what we need and want. So again, the order of instruction is to first teach our children about God and our duty to Him. Next, to let them learn about math concepts, such as numbers and values. Once our children are able to understand the math concerning money counting, value of numbers, the difference between coins, and paper money, and money in the bank, or through plastic magnetic stripe cards, they need to learn how one gets money.
The Bible teaches that as well in Proverbs, chapter 10, verse 4. Listen closely to what the Bible instructs us:
Being lazy will make you poor, but hard work will make you rich.
[Proverbs 10:4 Good News Translation]
Brother Solomon: How do we earn money? Money comes from honest hard work.
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Money Is Earned Through Hard Work
Brother Solomon: This is where we point out how the money is earned in the family. Does the father work? Does the mother work? How hard or how often do they work? A homemaker’s hard work may not bring in income but provides for many needs, for the many needs of the family, but would cost additional money if done by others. Many parents work multiple jobs to make enough income or money to support the needs of the house. Experts advise never to tell our children exactly how much money a parent makes but to point out, and help make the connection, that payday is a result of honest, hard work.
And what of those who don’t put in the work? There are people who do not experience God’s blessings, because they are lazy, irresponsible, and unwilling to work. Laziness, says the Bible, leads to poverty. It is the desire of all parents to provide the best life possible for their children. This includes even giving them the things that we couldn’t have when we were growing up.
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Today’s topic: Teaching Kids Money
Brother Solomon: There are many things to want in this life. And to help our children attain what they would like in this life, we need to teach them to value hard work and proper money management. As parents, we should put in the hard work that it takes to train our children about money. If we are lazy, or just simply put off the training they need in money management, or even with other important life skills, they will not be equipped for their future. We will leave them with poor options. It is daunting when thinking about all the things that we are responsible for, as their first instructors. It’s a good thing that we have the words of God to inspire and equip us.
When do we impart responsibility to our children? What can children bear even in their youth? Lamentations, chapter 3, verse 27. This is what the Bible teaches us next:
A servant of God starts his responsibility of knowing God from his youth; ‘it is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.’
[Lamentations 3:25 & 27 New International Version]
Brother Solomon: When is it good to bear the yoke? The Bible states that it is good to bear the yoke in one’s youth. In other translations of the Bible, it is good for children to experience situations that require patience and discipline. When our children begin to desire bigger priced toys, gadgets, technology or experiences, it is good to show them how to save up, work hard, and purchase the wanted item with their own hard-earned money. This also helps them take better care of their purchase.
We’ve all bought our children a toy, which they sometimes ended up breaking, or losing, because they didn’t take care of it. The point here, when it comes to training on money management, is that we should not just give them everything they want.
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Let Children Experience The Rewards Of Hard Work
Brother Solomon: Rather, we should give them training, or experiences, that teach them that hard work pays off. Parents that just give their children every desire and even luxury, without allowing their children to learn the value of hard work and earning, are not giving their children solid training when it comes to money management.
This type of experience is misleading to children. They begin to believe that mom and dad are the source for anything and everything. What will they do when they are adults? We should train them to know exactly Who is the source of what we truly need in life. If we, as parents, are the ones also constantly providing every possible want for them, we deny them the most needed training for one’s youth—the experience of understanding the power of prayer. What is an important lesson that our children must learn from our training with them on money management? What did a wise servant of God pray for when it came to his wants and needs in life? Let us read what is recorded, again in the Bible, here in Proverbs 30:7-9:
Oh God, I beg two favors from you before I die: First, help me to never tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give just enough to satisfy my needs! For if I grow rich, I may become content without God. And if I am poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name.
[Proverbs 30:7-9 Living Bible]
Brother Solomon: What does a wise servant pray for? Not poverty, because poverty may lead to stealing or sinful behavior that would insult the holy name of God. But not riches either, because riches may cause the person to become content without God.
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Train Also To Identify Contentment
Brother Solomon: Contentment is a value that is taught side by side with money management. A Christian home would not be able to learn one without the other. Is there contentment without God? If we had all the toys in the store, but did not have a relationship with God, would we truly be happy?
If we bought our children every toy we never had growing up and every new gadget, but never taught our children how to pray and how to properly thank God, would we have fully equipped them? We can either be diligent in training, and send our children down a path of prayerfulness, and patience, and discipline, or not train our children and put them down the path of entitlement, and something that would even corrupt their character.
What did the Lord Jesus Christ Himself advise His followers? In Luke, chapter 12, verse 15, this is what our Lord Jesus Christ taught us:
And he went on to say to them all, “Watch out and guard yourselves from every kind of greed; because your true life is not made up of the things you own, no matter how rich you may be.
[Luke 12:15 Good News Translation]
Brother Solomon: What did our Lord Jesus Christ warn people to watch out for? He warned about the dangers of being governed by greed.
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Guard Against Greed
Brother Solomon: Let’s be very clear. The Bible does not teach that being rich is wrong or bad. It is being greedy that we need to guard against. What results when one is not content with what they already have? They become dissatisfied, or they want more. In other words, they may become greedy. Greediness is prevalent in the world we live in today. It is difficult today to exercise restraint with so many options and things available for purchase.
Have you ever been with a child at the store? They might pick up a toy and insist it is exactly what they want, even though it’s the very first time they saw that item. Then they might put it down in the next style, because they now must have another item. By the time you get to the checkout lane, they may have easily declared [a] deep desire for at least five or seven different toys or things, all of which they just only saw for the very first time [on] that shopping trip. And if you purchase it for them, there is a chance that the item might be broken or forgotten in a corner before you get your banking statement.
People just keep wanting more. They sometimes own many things that they don’t have room for, or even have no idea what to do with. The danger here is if we fall in love with the material things and pleasures of this world, and prioritize hard work to earn money to buy all those things, over what is truly important. Why is it so difficult in these last days? Let’s read what the Bible teaches us, here in II Timothy, chapter three, verses 1 to [4]:
You should know this, Timothy, but in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God.
[II Timothy 3:1-4 New King James Version]
Brother Solomon: Why is it difficult nowadays? It is difficult because the Bible said that it would be.
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Watch Out For Materialism
Brother Solomon: In this age of materialism, true Christian families need to all the more devote themselves to doing good works that will enhance their spiritual lives. They make the decision to love God, by loving his teachings more than anything else in this world.
What is it that we really need in life? Our Lord Jesus Christ taught us the following, here in Matthew, chapter 4, verse 4:
But Jesus replied, “It is written and forever remains written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.
[Matthew 4:4 Amplified Bible]
Brother Solomon: Dear friends, God is the endless source of material wealth and spiritual prosperity. Therefore, man needs not only to be hard working but also to be rich in good works to receive God’s blessings in the kingdom of heaven.
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Train Your Children In The Value Of Holiness
Brother Solomon: As we train our children about money management, we are also responsible to help them in time management. Remember how, at the start of our Bible study, we began with a question about the timing of money instruction? Using our time wisely is a valuable solution for all who are eager to live a godly and holy life. Parents should take the time to train their children. Children should spend time learning their math and numbers, but also dedicate significant time to learning about their Creator and how to serve Him in life.
It is our prayer that all of you joining us on this program will keep God’s words in your hearts.
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Brother Solomon: And together, we’ll work hard to train our children in the way that they should grow so that, when they are older, they will stay on the right path.
Thank you for joining us for The Solution. We’ll see you next time.
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