7 Stewardship Principles
There are certain stewardship principles that encompass all other tips we can express. They are not sure fire paths to riches but principles that should guide any Christians view of money.
- Be generous first – Deuteronomy 26 calls for a sacrifice of the first fruits of the harvest as a sacrifice. It is a principle of the Bible to give the first to God and not to wait to give your leftovers. You will always have money for what you pay first. People often say they can’t give any money to the Gospel but it is often because they wait until after they have spent it all to think about giving.
- Pay yourself second – Similar to #1 you should pay your self second. If you wait until the end of the month to invest what is left then you will regularly find you have little or nothing left for yourself.
- Have a plan for your money – There is an old cliche that says “Failing to plan is, planing to fail.” I say it this way, “Your money will be spent somehow; you can decide where or let it to chance” You should create a plan on how all of your money is going to be spent. That doesn’t mean just when going to the store, but where you will invest it. Have a plan for all of your money. Call it a budget, or a plan but you have to know where your money is going.
- Don’t leave money on the table – We do it all the time in many ways; here is how to avoid a few of them. Negotiate on everything. You never know when it could save you some money. Make the most of your 401(k), make sure you are getting all the match you can.
- Spend less than you make – This should be obvious to anyone not in government but you can’t survive for long spending more money than you bring in. Eventually those bills will come due.
- Have an emergency fund – Start with a baby fund of $1000 or so, because everything thing that goes wrong seem to cost around $1000. And then move to having 3-6 months of expenses set aside in case you lose your job or have some other financial emergency.
- Understand your insurance needs– Insurance can be an important part of your financial plan. Depending on your situation in life you may need more or less. Insurance can prevent certain financial disasters. A cheaper premium may be cheap for a reason, so research before you do business with any company.
These stewardship principles are crucial to getting off on the right foot. In fact if you were able to stick to all 7 you would be better than 95% of people in America.
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Jason administrator
Jason is the founder of Considering Stewardship he has a passion for helping people to steward all of their resources as gifts from God. Time, money, and Talent.
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