Five Lies that Ruin Relationships - Why Better Things Don't Always Make Things Better, Part 2

What does God think about money? Better, what does God think about the amount of money that you have?

I mean, how much is enough? Is God down on people with money? Is being poor a curse? Is being wealthy a blessing?

How does it all really work? If you want to understand what Scripture says about you and money, and you might be surprised at the answer, stay with me. Thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. I'm Dave Druey, and Chip's our Bible teacher for this international discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians. Today, Chip will share the second half of his message, Why Better Things Don't Always Make Things Better, which is from his series, Five Lies That Ruin Relationships.

In fact, there's a lot of good content to get to, so let's dive right in. If you have a Bible, turn now to James chapter 5, as Chip begins by reminding us of the wrong ways to use money. Finally, warning here is don't abuse it. He talks about how do you use your money to influence other people. He says don't use your money to abuse the influence that it can have.

Notice he says in verse 4, you have condemned and murdered innocent men who were not opposing you. The owners didn't pay their wages. Well, guess what happens? Not only can the guy goes home and cries out to God and says, God, I worked all day, I didn't get any money, I can't feed my family. Well, he has other, he's got bills to pay, right? He's got a landlord to pay. So the landlord comes to the guy and says, hey, where's my money? He goes, well, the guy didn't pay me.

He said, yeah, it's a personal problem. And you know how they got people to pay their debts back in that day? They put them in prison, which is really smart. I mean, he's really, I mean, making a lot of money in prison to pay off that debt, but that's how it worked. Remember the parable of Jesus and, you know, the man who came and wouldn't pay the debt and he said, put that man in prison, he begged, begged, begged for mercy and then he did the same thing with someone else.

That was how it worked in the day. So literally what he's saying here is that you've abused it, you've condemned and murdered men. If you end up in prison in order to pay your debt and you can never pay your debt, what do you end up doing? You die.

You die. And this is the harsh word from the Spirit of God who sees this injustice to these unbelievers who are hoarding and stealing and abusing these people. And he says, they weren't even opposing you. Literally that phrase is, they were powerless before you. They weren't even in the game.

They couldn't do anything against you. And now you see people who use money for bribes, to pay off judges, political appointments, to get contracts. So that's how you abuse money. Anytime you use money to prefer justice and control others instead of love and serve others that will bring glory to God, it's an abuse.

I remember being in the Philippines with one of my buddies and a little guy named Alex and he was on the front of the motorcycle and I was on the back of the motorcycle and I was scared to death and I should be in Manila as we were weaving in and out of cars. And they're like cardboard cities. I mean, they're just the poorest of the poor. And they're like cardboard shacks and little corrugated aluminum and they call them squatters because there's no land and they're like refugees and they form these little cities. And then every now and then someone very powerful will decide, you know, I want to use that land for a project of mine. And so he makes a call to the government and the government says, oh, sounds good.

And if you've traveled anywhere around the world, bribes are a part of how life works in almost every country in the world. And my friend Alex, just a neat guy, a godly guy that had a ministry among all these refugees and I mean hundreds, thousands and thousands of people. And Alex was the only one. There was a little pole and they ran a wire and he had one light bulb that hung down in the middle of his cardboard shack. And all the people from all around would come at night because he had a light bulb and he would read the Bible and he shared Christ with them. And then I still remember his entire house was just about the size of this stage right here. And there was one, about from here to here was one bed.

And he wasn't apologizing. He was like showing me, Chip, come and see. This is so beautiful. I'm such a rich man. I'm such a rich man. And he would sleep this direction and his wife would sleep that direction.

So they would be on this one. It was a dirt floor and there was another bed about four feet and he had a small boy about five years old and his wife was ready with number two. And he was so excited to show me his castle with a light bulb. And then I remember hearing some guy wanted to use that land. No warning.

No telling people anything. Just a line of bulldozers came in. Thousands of people displaced. That is what James is talking about.

That abuse. This is a very depressing passage. And this passage that we've read is happening all around the world, especially in third world countries.

And it's happening probably more here than we like to believe. Because as Christians, for that lie of security and significance, we hoard. We must hoard some because our garages are full of all this stuff and we've got about every six or eight months trying to get other people to take our junk, which is their treasure.

And you know what? I think as Christians, we steal it. I mean, every employee here paying people what they're worth, everyone making sure they've got the kind of benefits they need, what they're worth. Everybody here who works and has an employer, you put in a full day, even if the supervisor is gone, or you come in a little late or leave a half hour early, you know what that's called? It's called stealing.

Anybody here use company phone or company credit card to see? You know, you read the research in the business world, billions and billions and billions of dollars employees by their just little things they do. You know, it's called a lack of integrity. The hoarding, the abuse, the stealing, the wasting. How much unconsciously has the buffet mentality kind of gotten to our bloodstream, and that when we have a little extra, we just do this and do that? Because every moment of every day, what are you getting?

Advertisements, advertisements, advertisements, advertisements, advertisements. You know what? You've got to watch like you've got three of them, but you need a new one. You've got a blouse. You've got like four of them, but you need it in a lighter shade of this or that. You've got like four pair of shoes that go with everything, but you get one for this outfit, this outfit, this outfit, this outfit, this outfit.

I mean, like how many feet do we have? But what happens is it becomes normal, doesn't it? It just becomes normal, and I think there's warnings here for us as believers.

Now, this could end on a very negative note, but it's not going to, because remember I said we're going to have a good time together. What I want to do is I want to flip this around and ask and answer the question, if that's the wrong way to use money that brings God's judgment, what's the right way? What would be the four positive ways that we could leverage this amazing wealth?

One of the things that upsets me about Christians is they feel really guilty. We're all very wealthy. Now, what we do is we find someone more wealthy and we think we're middle class. I mean, I've met with people in living rooms who are only worth $10 or $12 million and just feel like, I don't have much. I mean, now, real wealth is, and they'll talk about someone with about $100 million. I've been in rooms with people that have $100 or $200 million and look at me like, no, wealthy?

No, no. I mean, when you have a big capital B in your portfolio like in billions, now that's wealthy. And it's just a game that we play. And so we think, well, people making like over $200,000 now, they're wealthy and I got news for you. You are wealthy. I am wealthy. And you know what?

That's not bad. It's just a stewardship. It's just God has made us wealthy. Then what we ought to ask is, Lord, how do you want us to use this wealth in a very positive and good way? And so what I want to do is I'm going to flip this around and let me give you four commands right out of Scripture on the right uses of wealth. And I want to take the model because he's gone negative, negative, negative, negative.

I want to go positive, positive, positive, positive. So when we walk out of here, instead of feeling lonely and bad and guilty about our wealth, we can say, hey, here's a practical, systematic way that we can use the God-given wealth for good. So with that, are you ready to roll?

Good. Command number one is save it faithfully. Although hoarding is condemned, God does say that wisdom demands that we plan for the future with our excess wealth. Notice what it says in Proverbs 21, 20. The wise man saves for the future, but the foolish man spends whatever he gets. Biblical savings is about stewardship, not about security.

Do you see the difference? As a believer, I need to save for emergencies, for crises, for future needs, to help others, to make better use of my money. And when I save, I make better decisions. There is a reason why those commercials say, you can buy this today and no payments for 18 months. It's because you start buying stuff and having stuff you can't really afford, but it doesn't hit you for 18 months. And usually there's a little thing in the fine print where you're going to end up figuring, you'll pay the interest on that some way, somehow. They're going to get you this way, this way, or that way.

But you know what? When you save, it's in a novel thing. What if you made car payments to yourself, so the next car you bought, you walked in and said, how much does it cost? Here it is, and you paid no interest. What if you save so that when your washing machine breaks down, you walk in and say, I need a new washing machine, and you pay him cash. And by the way, when you pay cash and when you save and you have that taken care of, what if there's a big need or what if there would be, imagine like a hurricane would hit and millions of people would be displaced.

What if you had money on the side that you could just reach into and say, you know something? This is for an emergency. I thought it was for my emergency. Lord, I think you must want it for their emergency.

And you could give it, not with, oh, I wish I could do something. See, God says it's important and wise. You know, Proverbs says observe the ant, right?

What does he do? You know, they work together, and they do things at different times of the year so that when the winter comes, they have prepared. So I think it's very important to save. Savings as a steward requires a couple things. Now, this really sounds elementary, but other than some really, really bright people, they don't quite get this. In order to save, follow very carefully, you have to spend less each month than you make. I'll go over that again slowly, okay?

Get that pen out, okay? In order to save money, you have to spend less than you make. So if you make, you know, $2,000 a month or $5,000 a month or $10,000 a month, you have to live on less than that so you can take a portion of it and save it. And I'm not being as facetious as you think I am because one of the things I did to get through seminary is I did some selling of investments and some financial planning, and what I found is if the people made $50,000 a year, that was the window, they spent about 55 grand. If they made 100 grand a year, they spent about 110 grand a year. If they made $250,000 a year, they spent about 300 grand a year.

It was amazing. Whatever window that people make, their expenses seem to always exceed what they make. It's an amazing thing, but you would have to begin to save.

It will be just a freeing, freeing thing to have money set aside for emergency or future purchases or something someone else needs. The second positive way to use your wealth is make it honestly. This is how we're supposed to gain wealth.

Notice what it says. Work brings profit. Talk brings poverty.

We're to work hard instead of seal it. Notice work hard instead of the get rich quick schemes. Proverbs 13, 11, it's not in your notes but you might want to jot that down.

It says wealth from gambling or the idea of getting rich quickly disappears, but wealth from hard work grows. The classic New Testament passage is Ephesians 4, 28. Let him who steals, literally it's happening in the church. The grammar here is literally stop stealing.

Let him who steals steal no longer but rather what? Let him labor performing with his own hands what is good in order that he may have something to share with him who has need. Work hard but wisely. I love Proverbs 23, 4. It says don't wear yourself out to get rich. Have the wisdom to show restraint. Work hard.

That's how you gain it. You know, I know when you can't sleep and there's times I can't sleep, it's 142 in the morning. You know, you even read the Bible a little bit, still can't sleep. It's now 333 in the morning. You're now thinking what a terrible day it's going to be and maybe I could watch some mindless thing on TV. It'll help me sleep. And so you turn on the TV.

The quality program between about 230 in the morning to five will blow your mind. And what is it? With no money down, I'll show you how to buy real estate like you've never dreamed, right? Or for 1999, seven payments of 1999, this book has the magic formula where you can be a millionaire. And then they have these guys with all these testimonies and I love the guy, the one guy, you know, he's in the boat with all the babes and the bikinis and back going, hey man, I'll tell you what I did.

I went through this course and what is it? It's a lie. It's just a lie.

There are no quick fixes. God says there's nothing wrong with wealth. In fact, God says he gives wealth to the godly and he adds no sorrow to it. He says, try this. Just work for it. Quit trying to get, I don't know how many believers, even Christian organizations about 10, 12 years ago, a Ponzi scheme soaked tens of millions of dollars, promising if it sounds too good to be true, just take it. It's too good to be true. People who promise 20% return and this return and that return, something smells, don't go there. There is no free lunch. Work hard.

Save it. Make it honestly. And before I get to the next one, I want to ask you a question because this is always lingering in the back of people's minds. People ask me, so how much money can a godly person make?

Didn't that come in the back of your mind? I mean, how much money? I mean, I'm godly. You really love God.

It's really sincere. How much money can a godly person make? I have an answer. Now, this is Chip Ingram.

We were in James before. You're going to get Chip Ingram. So you can say, I like this. I don't like this. I'll weigh it. My answer, as much as you want. Of course, there's an end to, you know, you ready?

That's not the whole answer. As much as you want. As long as it doesn't hurt your health, your family, others. And then here's the key test. As long as your spiritual growth is outpacing your financial growth.

That's the test. Because money will always reveal your heart. You can make as much money as you want. As long as your spiritual growth is outpacing your financial growth. I think God is looking for people that he can trust great amounts of wealth to.

And they're few and far in between. People who, as one guy says, can't remember who it was. God is looking for people that will be rivers instead of reservoirs.

People that he can put it in here. And it loosely will go through and make it to lots of other people and do lots of good. Instead of going to something where it all gets accumulated. Wealth is not a bad thing. Wealth can be a great thing.

But I would suggest it's a dangerous thing. I don't think we take that seriously. Mark chapter four when Jesus talks about the four seeds that go into the ground. You remember seed number one, Satan takes away. Seed number two, persecution.

Do you remember what seed number three is? The worries of the world, the thorns, the deceitfulness of riches choke out the word of God. It is so hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Because rich people, that's us, don't recognize our desperate dependency. Poor people are rich in faith because they pray and expect and ask because they desperately need God.

When you have enough wealth to take care of yourself, you have to willfully be dependent. And the thing about wealth is deceitful. And the definition of deceitful is when it is affecting you, the person who doesn't know it is you.

Right? When you're deceived, it's like you think things are going right. I'm really walking with the Lord. Everything's fine. And I feel good.

And when I sing those songs, I have happy feelings in my heart. I'm actually reading my Bible and I'm serving at my church. Let me tell you, God is going to say, let me see your day timer and let me see your financial statement.

And I'll tell you how you're doing with me. Because according to Jesus, if you want to see a person's heart, his spiritual x-ray machine, the spiritual MRI is your financial statement. Because according to Jesus, here's your heart and there is a chain.

And the chain is connected to your wallet. And wherever your wallet is, that's where your heart follows. And if we want to know where your heart really is, what are you passionate about?

All we've got to do is look at where your money goes. If it's to golf clubs, vacations, remodeling, this, this, this, this. You can love God, sing hymns, read your Bible, serve in your church. But your heart is in those things. If your money is toward kingdom purposes, being generous to people after taking care of your responsibilities, then your heart is about an eternal perspective and loving God.

It is that simple. And so you can have as much money as you want, but just make sure that your spiritual growth outpaces your financial growth. Notice number three, spend it wisely, save it, work for it, spend it wisely. Notice what it says in 1 Timothy 6, 17 and 18.

Command those who are rich in this present world, that's us, not to be arrogant or put their hope and wealth. Why? See, God's not dying on us.

Why? Which is so uncertain? God doesn't want you to put your hopes in something that today is, you know, getting $55 a share and tomorrow is going to get $2 a share and bang, you're gone.

He says, don't, don't, don't have them do that, which is so uncertain. But to put their hope in God, who does what? Richly provides us, circle the word with everything. Circle that phrase, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

Will you circle that word too? God provides us with everything, then command them to what? To do good, to be rich in good deeds and to be generous and willing to share. The reminder is 100% of it belongs to God and it's not just the part you give. People, people I know, people say, I'm going to tithe and here's God's part, there's a 10%.

If you're a tither, here's just a little eye-opening moment. The 10% is His and it belongs to Him and the 90% is His and belongs to Him. And I will be evaluated for the 10% or the 12% or the 20% or whatever God leads me to and I'll also be evaluated, what do I do with the 90%? Am I a wise steward of it?

See, it's not mine, I'm His money manager. I mean, read Luke 16. When Jesus wanted to teach, He talked about the unrighteous shrewd servant. And He says, this guy was really smart because he understood he was going to lose his job and so he's going to lose his job. He brought in all the creditors and he changed all the books.

Why? Do you remember He said, Jesus said this guy is shrewd. He took a bad example and made a good moral principle, a spiritual principle. This guy understood that his present situation was going to dry up so he used his present position, platform and money to create an avenue so that when that dried up, he would have friends who would receive him.

And Jesus says that the children of the darkness are more shrewd than the children of the light. He says what smart Christians do, what smart Christians realize is this money, this world is going to dry up. It's like Confederate money.

I mean, you know, when the union came, you could have all those Confederate dollars, you just couldn't spend them. All the dollars that you have, you can't spend in heaven. So you take the money that you have and you realize it's going to be a short time and you take the money and you leverage it into the future so that, what did Jesus say? You'll be welcomed into eternal dwellings by people who say, man, I was one of those hurricane victims, thank you so much. You gave ten grand and it helped this church and shared the gospel and I heard from these angels that you were behind it. I wanted to thank you. And people line up in heaven and talk to you about how you transformed their life.

And someone from Kenya comes up and someone from Australia comes up. And so, you know, man, thank you so much because you gave to that mission and this is, and I'm here because of, that's the point. And so, but notice the balance here. He says, not only is it about good deeds and giving richly, command them to do good. A hundred percent belongs to God. We're going to be stewards of it. But there's this amazing balance. This is why people can't tell us what to do with our money.

There's this amazing balance. Doesn't it say who gives us all things richly to enjoy? I think there should be tension in every believer's heart when it comes to money.

And the tension ought to be, how can I be radically sacrificial and at the same time radically and deeply enjoy without guilt the good gifts of God? When I talk to most Christians who have a nice car, you know, well, I got it on sale and, you know, it's because, you know, I help out at the church with funerals or we have the swimming pool. I know this is a really nice house, a swimming pool for baptisms.

We put it in for baptisms. How about the good hand of my God has been upon me? And He's lavished His grace upon me. I can't give it away fast enough. I have a beautiful home. I have a nice car.

I'm able to enjoy these rich gifts from a God. And I remember when I was a young man, I started out at 10 percent. And then as when I got older, it was 20 percent. And as God has blessed my business, I have a personal friend that after his 21st birthday, he started giving one more percent every year to the Lord. A minimum of that. He's been married 55 years now. You do the math.

But I guess, you know, something happened. God found a river. So He probably gives up 75, 85 percent of His income. But He owns real estate all over Michigan, Florida, everywhere. See, when God finds someone like that, He just delights. God is not uptight with people being wealthy. God's uptight with people thinking wealth makes you significant, will bring security, will give you power, makes you a someone. And when they waste it and abuse it and don't use it the way He wants them to. I think God wants probably more people to be wealthy if He could entrust it where it wouldn't literally choke out the spiritual life in their heart.

It takes huge maturity to be wealthy, huge maturity. But I think we have to balance this sacrificial with, what's the passage say? Who gives us all thing richly to feel guilty about?

Doesn't it say who gives us all thing richly to enjoy? Enjoy. My priorities in line. I've prayed. My bills are paid. I have saved for an emergency fund. I'm putting away X amount of dollars for my retirement.

And I've done the math and I'm not going to have a big, you know, the goal is when I retire I'll have for this many years and then I've got it all planned out so that that money will be dispersed to good places, to good people that does a lot of good and won't ruin my kids. And by the way, I'm taking steps of increasing faith. I proportionally give and this year we're going to give a little more and this year we give a little more, this year we give a little more and this year we give a little more and I'm going to test God. And as you do that, here's what happens. He just keeps doing wild stuff like giving you more. And so he says save it. He says earn it with hard work. He says spend it wisely and then finally we've touched on. He says give it. Give it generously. Proverbs 11 says one man gives freely. You know, he's generous yet gains even more. Another withholds unduly or literally what is justly due but comes to poverty. I love this verse 25 of Proverbs 11. A generous man will prosper and he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. The Bible is clear on money and the Bible is clear on giving.

And you know why? It's because option A, Jesus is the Lord of my life. Option B, mammon or materialism and all that it represents is the Lord of my life and I can't have two masters.

It's either this one or that one, there's no middle ground. And the antidote according to Jesus, Jesus talked more about money than heaven and hell combined. And the antidote to greed according to Jesus is to be generous.

The only way it won't stick to you is if you give it away. And so he says be generous, it's the antidote to greed. It's the only way to live under the lordship of Christ. I mean, you work, work, work all these hours, right? You get a paycheck. That paycheck represents who you are, what you've done.

It's who you are and what you've done under the lordship of Christ, it all belongs to you. So I take the first portion off the top and I say this is a reminder, it's all yours and I give. And then I do all the things I'm supposed to do and then I look for opportunity to say, okay, now I would like to give more because I love you. Not duty, not guilt. Lord, I love you.

You've given me everything. I want to help people. I want to care. I'm only going to go around once and whatever I can accumulate. The lie is X amount of dollars and X amount of accounts and X amount of things don't make me powerful. They don't make me significant and they don't make me secure. God says, you know something, money can't deliver. That's the lie.

I'm your source. Jesus said, it's more blessed to give than to receive. Giving is God's divine vehicle to protect my heart. It's his divine means to crush greed and the thorns that will choke out the spiritual life. And it is his means for every believer to support his church to accomplish his mission in the world. And he says, you get to be in on an eternal investment as you learn to give and to give generously. Jesus said, blessed, the word means happy, fulfilled, significant, security, joyful, comes more in giving than in accumulating or receiving. Now, I'd like to wrap it up with a question.

And the question would be this one. The first one was, if I had more money, I'd be more happy. Pragmatically, our lifestyles say true.

What the Bible says is false. In fact, pragmatically, if you do research, have you read any of those books about following the lives of people who won the lotto? Oh, my. It's like, one thing you don't want, don't win the lotto.

Unless you want a divorce and have all kind of relational problems and struggle probably for the rest of your life. That was the first question. Here's the last question. If I gave away more money, I would be more happy, true or false?

It's true. Wouldn't it be just an amazing application if we just all, you think of just the, you know, what if we all said, you know, let's just start giving away more money. Let's just start giving away more. Let's just love people.

Let's get radical. Just kind of start giving it away and kind of incrementally and see what God will do. And if he gives you more, then give a little bit more. Wouldn't it be an amazing thing? Here's what I'll tell you will happen in your heart. The happiness that you think, the clothes, the car, the watch, all the advertisement to tell you that makes you somebody, you start giving your money, your time, your heart, your energy. You'll just be about the happiest person.

It'll just get sickening. I mean, I'm serious. The giving that will be given unto you isn't just about dollars. It's a lifestyle of generosity. It's a lifestyle of walking into a room, walking into a situation and asking the question, what could I give instead of what do I need? And those kind of people are the kind of people that I line up to try and get time with just to be around, don't you?

And you know what? Most of us, you know, if you want to want a friend, give friendship. You want more time, give time away.

There's an axiomatic principle of the kingdom. Whatever you really need, generously give it to others and it will come back, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, back into your lap. The empirical evidence here is very, very clear that more things and better things don't make us happy and that money always reveals our heart.

And then here's the summary. Until you get your financial house in order, your relational life will always be in chaos. Until you get your financial house in order, your relational life will always be in chaos. And so ask yourself, am I saving faithfully? Am I earning honestly?

Am I spending wisely? And am I giving generously? And if so, high five the Lord. Thank him for what he's taught you.

And if not, just choose one of those and say, Lord, I'd like to obey you in this and he will give you grace like never before. Chip will be right back with his application for this message, Why Better Things Don't Always Make Things Better from his series, Five Lies That Ruin Relationships. In this 10-part series, Chip describes the common lies we tend to believe that can completely wreck our most treasured relationships. He'll also uncover the source of our quarreling, the ways words can deeply wound those we love, and how not to make decisions.

Discover the practical ways we can apply God's truth to confront and dispel these harmful lies. If you've missed any part of this series or want to share it with a friend, let me encourage you to check out the Chip Ingram app. Well, Chip's joined me in studio now. And Chip, you know, as our messages and resources go out, we consistently hear from parents who are looking for some help to better guide and direct their kids. So how are we practically helping those moms and dads? Because honestly, you know, some of them are really struggling right now.

Well, Dave, you're absolutely right. Parents are up against it right now. Believe me, I've got 12 grandchildren and my daughter, who's the youngest, has four kids, nine and under. One or two days at our house and I think, I don't know how parents do it today. Under all the demands, it's so easy just to hand them a tablet or a screen and let them go their own way. But that isn't going to produce the kind of kids that we want.

And here's what I know. If we don't invest in them, if we don't teach them, if we don't really help them grow emotionally and spiritually and intellectually, the world will shape them. And so we have a resource that we have found has been super helpful and easy to use. It's called Intentional Parenting and it comes from my friends Doug and Kathy Fields and through their decades of parenting experience and working with young people, they've come up with 10 crucial concepts to be intentional, God honoring moms and dads to give their kids what they need. I just want to tell you personally, I've actually studied and written a book on parenting but what Doug and Kathy have put together is some of the best stuff I've ever seen and there's two ways to get it.

The first way is on these cards. They're intentional parenting cards. There's 43 of them that cover these 10 practices and it's just like in bite-sized little ways that remind you kind of on an ongoing basis how to invest in your kids. The second is we have a five-part video series called Intentional Parenting that Doug teaches. These are things you want to get your hands on if you want to make a difference in the lives of your kids.

Thanks, Chip. Well, if you'd like to get plugged in with the online course Doug teaches or our set of cards, go to LivingOnTheEdge.org or call 888-333-6003. Make today the day you choose to be more deliberate about your calling as a parent or grandparent. Again, to learn more about these intentional parenting resources, go to LivingOnTheEdge.org or call 888-333-6003.

App listeners tap special offers. Now here's Chip with a final word to wrap up this program. At the end of today's broadcast, I made a statement and I hope you caught it, but I want to repeat it. Until you get your financial house in order, your relational life will always be in chaos. Now think of that. Until you get your financial house in order, your relational world will be in chaos. And you say, well, what do you mean, your financial house in order?

I mean what the passage said. I mean you save it faithfully and regularly. You earn it honestly.

You spend it wisely and you give it generously. Is that true of your life? If you're not doing that, I will tell you, as a single person, you will have ups and downs and relational chaos because those things are reflectors of values out of whack.

If you're not doing that, I can almost predict what's happening in certain areas of your marriage and how some of your kids are turning out. They need to learn how to save, how to work, how to give. And they will learn that not so much from books but from by watching you. Two great misconceptions exist in the church today. There are those who would say that abject poverty and having nothing makes you spiritual and the Bible doesn't teach that. And the other extreme is that if you love God and can think in certain ways and kind of believe things into existence, that spirituality will be demonstrated by financial prosperity with the false belief, with the lie that somehow more money is going to make your life right. The richest people on the face of the earth have the greatest relational problems because it impacts their relationships in ways that most of us cannot even imagine.

So if you want to have great relationships, it's hard, but get your financial house in order. It'll take time, but it's well worth the effort. Thanks, Chip. And as we talk about generosity, I quickly want to thank those of you who regularly give to Living on the Edge. You're making a big difference in helping Christians live like Christians. But if you're benefiting from our ministry in some way but aren't a regular giver yet, let me encourage you to join the Living on the Edge team. Now, you can do that by setting up a recurring donation at livingontheedge.org or by texting the word donate to 741-41.

It's that easy. Text the word donate to 741-41 or visit livingontheedge.org. App listeners, tap donate, and thanks for doing whatever the Lord leads you to do. Well, for all of us here, this is Dave Druey and thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.