If we could run a test to find out what a man truly loves and prioritises, what would that test be? How could we find out where a man’s heart truly lies? The answer is very simple, according to the Bible: look at their attitude and actions toward money. Money is the currency of the heart. Your attitude and use of money reflects your belief system. It reflects what you trust, what you fear, what you love, what you value.

In this series, which we’ve called Financial Wisdom from Proverbs, we’re examining the Bible’s perspective on finances. We have said that the Bible unpacks these six main issues of finances: priorities, diligence, planning, giving, saving, and avoiding certain financial practices and traps.

Last week we began by looking at Priorities. We saw that a Christian’s attitude toward money is probably the most fundamental step of all. We saw from Proverbs the correct attitude was to see money as something God uses in your life, but one is not to covet it, trust in it or love it. One is not to seek to be wealthy, but to remember God meets needs, money cannot buy the most important things in life, and money is fleeting and temporary.

We now move on to the actual nuts and bolts of dealing with money. How does one accumulate it, and how does one to spend it?

Saying that we must not love money is not the same as saying we must not seek to earn money. Money is a part of life. God is not going to meet the needs of the man who refuses to handle it in any way. Life includes the getting and using of money. So, once we have understood and corrected our attitude toward money, we now move on to how we are to obtain it and use it.

The next major principle in the book of Proverbs is diligence

Diligence is honest, hard work. Some Christians think that work is a part of the curse placed on Adam. No, part of the curse is laziness – the inclination of our selfish nature that does not want to work. Adam was told to keep the garden, even before sin entered the picture.

What sin brought was that our work would be hard, toilsome, and often frustrating. The ground would bring forth thorns and thistles – our efforts will often be in vain. That’s part of the curse – that our work will now be by the sweat of our brow. But that is something we must submit to if we are to follow the Bible’s attitude toward money.

Hard, honest labour is what God promises to reward. When a human dedicates themselves to falling in line with God’s command to work hard, God will meet the needs of such a person. Proverbs is filled with such advice:

Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
Proverbs 6:6-11

Solomon advises us to examine the ways of the tiny ant and gain wisdom. Without the supervision of ant managers or generals or governors, these diligent workers provide and gather what they need. How much more should humans, who have leaders supervising their efforts? The question is then asked, ‘How long will you continue to sleep, O sluggard? ‘Oh,’ comes the answer, ‘Just a little more sleep, just one more folding of my hands.’

As Proverbs 26:14 humorously puts it: ‘As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed.’ Well, says Solomon, just as you think another few minutes is harmless, so poverty creeps up on you slowly like a long journey, and will suddenly be upon you like an armed man robbing you. Diligence brings money, laziness brings poverty.

Laziness is strongly condemned in Scripture. But it’s smiled upon today. It’s laughed at. Playing all day is seen as a virtue. Wasting time at work is encouraged. Sadly, some cultures are known to support and feed sluggards, simply because they are in the family. This is unbiblical. The Bible says if someone refuses to work, and expects a handout – they are violating God’s principle – food for work:

For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.
2 Thessalonians 3:10-11

Proverbs 10:4 emphasises this: “He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.” Being slack and slothful leads to poverty. Diligent work leads to money.

The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.
Proverbs 12:24

He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough.
Proverbs 28:19

The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.
Proverbs 13:4

The sluggard wants money, he wants wealth, but he refuses to work to get it. In fact Proverbs 21:25 puts it exactly that way: “The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour.”

Now what are the symptoms of laziness? There are many people who have jobs, but are still lazy. The fact that you have a job is better than the man who refuses to work. But even if you have a job, and are slothful or lazy on that job, you are violating the financial wisdom of Proverbs. So we must ask – what does laziness look like?

• 1. The slothful always procrastinates.
  He will postpone a task for as long as possible, even until the postponement has brought problems. Proverbs 20:4 says: “The sluggard will not plough by reason of the cold.” You’ve heard this before: ‘It’s too cold to work. There’s too much to do to cut the grass. I can’t get busy with my assignment now. Later – when it warms up, when it’s more convenient for me.’
• Proverbs 10:5 carries the idea of the diligent man: “He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.” A diligent man gets busy with the work now. One simple way to learn this is to perfect the habit of tackling the hardest task first. By putting hard work on the backburner, and always doing the easy and attractive task, you teach yourself procrastination in the midst of activity. Do the hardest thing first, and you will learn hard work consistently.
• 2. Secondly, the slothful is always disorganised.
  A sluggard in fact uses his disorganised lifestyle as an excuse to stay that way. Proverbs 15:19 says “The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain.” You’ve heard this too: ‘Oh, look what a cluttered mess this room is. It’s too much to begin now. I’ll do it another time.’
• Notice how that verse makes the opposite of a slothful man a righteous man. Diligence is not just good sense, it is part of godliness. A diligent or righteous man is organised.
• 3. Thirdly, and similarly, the slothful makes excuses not to work.
  He always has reason why he can’t get on with some good hard work – it’s someone else’s fault, the boss is unfair, the colleagues are horrible, the work is too boring. Proverbs 22:13 says, “The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.” This is saying ‘I can’t go to work, I might be killed! I can’t do this or that for this or that reason.’ There is always an excuse.
• Proverbs 26:16 tells us “The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason.” A diligent man finds reasons to work, not to avoid it.
• 4. Fourthly, the slothful seldom starts something, and can never finish.
  Proverbs 12:27 says, “The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting.” He hunts, but he’s too lazy to cook it. In fact, it gets worse. Proverbs 19:24 says, “A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again.” This man is so lazy that even if he gets so far as to have cooked the food – he is too lazy to feed himself: take the spoon to the dish and up to his mouth.
• 5. Fifthly, the sluggard talks about work without working.
  Proverbs 14:23 says, “In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to poverty.” He talks and talks. He explains to you his latest scheme to get rich. He gives you a complicated and amazing scheme of economics. He’ll amaze you with his knowledge of how to beat the system. It’s just that, though: talk. He refuses to buckle down and consistently work hard.

Now the results of laziness are underlined: poverty. This is not the poverty that God sometimes brings our way to test us and teach us contentment. This is the poverty of hunger, meagre living and needs not being met due to our own refusal to seek out work. The opposite of these things is diligence.

The diligent man does not procrastinate with regard to education, seeking work or working – he does it now. The diligent man does not allow disorganisation to get in his way. Instead he clears his own path so that he can pursue hard work and earn the reward. The diligent man does not make excuses about why he does not study, or work hard at work, he simply gets down to it. He does not dwell on the obstacles, he dwells on the solutions.

Fourth, the diligent man finishes what he starts. He finishes the course he is studying, if he knows it is right. He completes his assignments on time. He works according to a schedule to be ready for exams. He completes his allotted tasks at work when he is supposed to. He gets stuck in, and stays in there till the task is done. Finally, he does not talk about how hard working he is, or about his schemes, he simply works.

Now does this mean that if I work hard, I will automatically be wealthy? No, Scripture promises that much of our toil will be frustrating. The ground will not always yield fruit because we sow – it will sometimes yield thorns and thistles. This is part of the curse. But the principle is: diligence in our allotted tasks will ultimately meet our needs. If a man does not work – he shall not eat. The reverse is true – if a man works, he ought to eat.

Now, we must state the balancing principle in Scripture – and that is to avoid the workaholic mentality. Psalm 127:2 says: “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.”

It is worthless, says the Bible, to work non-stop, fretting over more work. Enjoyment of your rewards, relaxation, sleep and rest are a part of the balanced Christian life.

Diligence is hard work – not overwork. That is just another form of pride. In some ways, an overworker does that to shirk other responsibilities – such those at home.

Now, Proverbs introduces another principle regarding the accumulation of wealth, and this time it is a negative principle. We find it in Proverbs 28:20, and 22: “A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent… He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.”

Do not try to get rich quick. Proverbs warns against this. Think of the mentality behind get-rich-quick thinking. If I want to get rich quick, what is the motivation? Firstly, as we saw last week, there is clearly a revealing of my priorities – ‘I believe a large amount of wealth will insulate me, protect me, meet all my needs.’ There is greed for money. ‘Money is my god.’

But there is more. The man who wants to get rich quick wants to bypass the law of hard work. This is the heart of the sluggard. He wants the reward without the toil, the privilege without the responsibility. He wants to get where men get after a lifetime of work with a fraction of the toil and time.

This is the man who talks about being retired by the time he’s in his forties. He dreams of being let off the hook. He does not want to toil all his life, as God insists we do, and instead wants a heap of money now, so he can do what he wants for the rest of his life. Essentially, he wants the reward of a lifetime of work in a fraction of the time, so he can avoid work for the rest of his life. God condemns this attitude.

See, not only is this a declaration of money as your god, and a brazen act of laziness, it also reflects a rebellion toward God’s order. The fact of having to work hard for your needs to be met is one of the things that keeps a sense of order in a world of selfish humans. We must submit to this law or we will starve. But give a man a heap of money, and he feels he can do whatever he wants to whomever he wants.

God keeps man in a certain degree of dependence through the principle of working to meet your needs. This was why God forbade the Israelites from gathering more than one day’s worth of manna. If they did, what they were saying was: ‘let me hoard up more – in case God doesn’t come through for me tomorrow.’ God wanted Israel to learn daily trust in Him.

Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” not ‘give us this month our monthly bread.’ Man leans toward self-dependence – but the realities of life force man to depend on God. The get-rich quick mentality is the opposite of this. It’s a desire to hoard, to be freed from the state of looking to God ultimately for our needs. Jesus spoke on this in Luke:

And He spake a parable unto them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Luke 12:16-21

Hoarding won’t help you. If you win a million rand today, it will not solve all your problems. Schemes which tell you that you can earn vast sums of money while still doing just about nothing are not what God commends as financial wisdom. They violate His very laws. God says – work hard, work honestly, and your needs will be met.

Worse, Scripture warns that the man who wants to get rich quick doesn’t realise that poverty will come upon him. Usually, get rich quick schemes result in a person sending money they earned through hard work down the tubes.

A second type of accumulating wealth is condemned by Proverbs 13:11: “Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.” Trying to gain wealth through any illegitimate means is condemned. This includes stealing, fraud, embezzlement, lying schemes or any other criminal activity. It includes the exploitation of workers, and the use of unfair or unethical business procedures. It includes extortion and manipulative or dishonest business practices.

A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.
Proverbs 11:1

In the old markets, a weight would be used to measure out amounts on a scale. A crooked merchant would use a heavier weight to make sure he could give less product for more money. God hates that. Inflating prices dishonestly is condemned in Scripture. Exploiting prices or people dishonestly is condemned – it is not classed as diligent labour. It is classed as unjust gain.

He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor.
Proverbs 28:8

Get-rich-quick attitudes, cheating, criminal activity, unethical, dishonest or exploitive business practices are not following the Bible’s legitimate method of accumulating wealth. It is to be by consistent, hard, honest labour. This is what God promises to bless. Proverbs 10:22 says, “The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.” When God chooses to bless you, financially or otherwise, it is not with regret and sorrow. It is a full and rich blessing.

Once we have the right attitudes, and obtain wealth through God’s appointed means, we then need to move on to the third principle we find in Proverbs for our finances.

The principle of planning

It’s amazing that people spend so much time educating themselves so that they can earn money, and then very little time educating themselves on how to manage their money once they have it. Proverbs does not regard people as wise if they simply work hard, gain money, and then spend blindly, hoping it will all somehow work out at the end of the month.

Essentially, when we speak about planning, we mean budgeting. Knowing how much income we have, understanding what expenses we will have, and slicing up the pie in the best way possible. It includes how to save, perhaps accumulate more income, and how and where to spend.

The idea of budgeting is clearly seen in Proverbs 31. The wise woman here knows how much her household needs. She considers the value of a field and buys it. She works the extra hours she needs to. She knows the expenses of her household, and she knows the needed income. For that reason, it says her husband safely trusts in her – he knows there will be no wastage nor unmet needs. A wise person plans.

The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.
Proverbs 14:15

Budgeting does a number of things. It controls spending, because without a plan of how much you can spend, you will think (or hope) there is no limit. It enables you to save, since you are putting a cap on your spending. It protects you against debt, since you are saving and have additional money. It relieves worry about the future, and it enables you to plan for the future.

Well, how do you budget? There are many ideas out there, and following these step is just one suggestion.

1. Determine your net spendable income.
   This is your income after tax and the amount you will give to the Lord. We’ll look more at giving next week.
2. Determine your expenses.
   Expenses come generally in three forms. The first is fixed monthly expenses – rent or house payment, water and lights, car, medical aid, groceries, travel expenses, insurance, those that are fixed monthly expenses. If you are trying to save, and you should be – then that amount, however small it might be, should be seen as one of your fixed monthly expenses.
3. The second kind of expense is variable expenses. The kind of items that pop up most months or some, or fluctuate in expense each month. We ought to budget in an amount for the things we spend on every other month, or variable things – like clothes, bank charges, school uniforms, books, entertainment and that sort of thing.
4. The third kind is what we call budget busters – an allowance for the sort of things we know happen – the car breaks and needs urgent repairs, the fridge packs up and needs to be replaced, we get sick and need medicine – these things are unforeseen, but they happen. We need to budget for them as well. Obviously you don’t know what they will be, which is why you need a fixed amount that you save every month to help cover these budget busters when they come.
5. Total your expenses, and make cuts where possible to make sure your expenses are less than your income.
   You must seek to spend less than you earn. I know how tough life can be, and how hard saving seems. But sometimes we simply need to see where we can make cuts. You’d be surprised how much you can save in little places here and there, and how well you can do with little.

So as the saying goes, if you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail. God wants His people to be wise – good stewards of the money He entrusts to them. Thus far we have looked into the principles of priorities, diligence and planning. In the rest of this series, we explore more of the principles of financial wisdom from Proverbs, which include giving, saving, and avoiding certain things.