Wisdom vs. Wealth

 

Another quote from my pastor, Dr. Robert Nix: "There is a difference between wisdom and wealth. Wealth is having the finances. Wisdom knows how to keep the finances."

Have you ever wondered why money seems to run through your fingers? Join the club. This means that you don’t have financial wisdom. Yes, you have made the money, but you don’t know how to keep it. I was not taught how to budget or manage money. So, for years, I struggled with my finances. I made a lot of dumb financial choices. Now, I have learned to pray and ask God to guide my financial decisions. This has worked so much better for me. No, I will not lie and say that I don’t still waste money. However, I have become a better steward of what God has entrusted to me. It is my continuing prayer that I learn how to get and keep wealth.

 

Deuteronomy 8:18-He gives us the power to get wealth.

Proverbs 10: 22-blessings of God make us rich

Proverbs 3:9-10-Honor the Lord with your wealth and the first fruits of your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty.

Leaving a Legacy Behind: Things We Must Leave Our Children

A few years ago, I wrote an article called “Legacies” for Yahoo Voices. In this article, I talked about a family from Kemper County whose parents had left them a lasting legacy of love, pride, and service. How wonderful it must be to be left with a legacy like that. As parents, it is our job to leave a lasting and positive legacy for our children. We should strive to ensure that our offspring is better off than we were to begin with.

Yes, I know we may have struggled, and many of us feel that our children are not any better than we are. But, did you ever stop to think how different your life would have been if you had been left with a positive legacy? Did you ever wonder how much further along you would be if your parents had provided a better financial foundation for you?

Well, I do. I think about all of those people who inherited their grandma’s house or their parents’ old car. I think about the money I would have saved. I also think about how much better off financially I would have been if someone had only taught me to budget my money when I was younger. No, I am not crying over spilled milk. The past is the past. And, I believe in moving forward. As my mother once said, you can’t drive a car if you are constantly looking back.

What I would like to do, however, is ensure that my children don’t have the same struggles. No, we should no give our children everything they want. No, we should not make them lazy. Yes, we should encourage them to work and make a living. But, we should make it a goal to leave them a legacy of honesty, hard-work, integrity, and financial and spiritual wisdom. We must educate our children on how to budget. We must teach them how to have a good work ethic. We must teach them respect. We must teach them be empathic to their fellowman.

So, as parents, we shouldn’t waste all of our substance (money/knowledge) on ourselves. We should provide a financial and spiritual legacy for our children.

http://voices.yahoo.com/leagacies-11617932.html

http://voices.yahoo.com/ending-cycle-poverty-indentifying-cause-12028759.html

http://voices.yahoo.com/ending-cycle-poverty-among-african-americans-11980800.html

Luke 15:11-32
Proverbs 13: 22