Hope For the Financially Stressed

Series: Money from Matthew’s gospel (part 2). By Rosie Moore.

As a counsellor, I’ve come to realize that money troubles can be profoundly serious, painful, and stressful. There are many reasons why we can feel overwhelmed by financial worries—such as job loss, unexpected expenses, poor decisions, crippling debt, theft, or the illness or death of a primary earner. Even natural disasters, like the recent Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, can devastate a lifetime of hard work in a single day.

Those who find themselves trapped in a financial pit often feel anger, discouragement, fear, panic, intense helplessness, and eventually hopelessness.  In such a state of relentless stress, it is easy to be consumed by worries and fears. Paralysing fear prevents us from taking the necessary steps to address our real financial issues.

Jesus understands this struggle and does not discount our concerns about money. Instead, he reminds us not to focus our hearts on material worries, such as what we will eat or drink, but instead to seek his kingdom first. Before we dismiss Christ’s words in the sermon on the Mount as out-of-touch platitudes, let’s take a moment to revisit Matthew 6:5-34 and ask God what He wants to teach us through our financial struggles:

⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? ²⁸ And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

³⁴ “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:5-34)

Jesus gives us three truths to anchor our anxious hearts.

1. God knows my needs.

Like most people, I have to regularly navigate financial stress. I’m not immune to worry, but I’ve found that hope for the financially stressed lies in this simple but profound truth:

Our heavenly Father knows all our needs and is faithful to care for His children.

Because I’m prone to forget, I keep a vase of flowers in my house and a bird feeder outside my window as visual reminders of God’s faithful care. Apart from restoring our minds and bodies, God teaches us many truths about Himself through the natural world.

When I lie awake with racing thoughts–from the university fees due this month, to unknown expenses in the future, to market forces beyond our control, to the latest disease afflicting our crocodile farm, I have to remind myself that God is sovereign, wise and good. Nothing falls outside the ambit of his loving care. He is my provider, He knows what I need and how to supply it. With each new day, I can ask and trust my Father to give me my daily bread.

As Jesus pointed out, our God feeds the birds and clothes the flowers who do not work or have any need to be anxious, because God is faithful to them. And then Jesus notes that God’s children are worth far more than birds and flowers. Likewise, we have no need to be anxious about our lives, but need to trust our present and our future to God’s sovereign goodness.

This isn’t just a comforting platitude; it’s a true perspective rooted in God’s sovereignty and providence over our lives. “God knows all my needs” is a sermon we need to preach to ourselves daily. Moreover, He has proved how much He cares by sending His own Son to die for us (Romans 8:32).

If we put our trust in God, then we’ll enter into a place of rest and peace, knowing that our caring Father, (not money) is ultimately looking after us. From this place of childlike dependence, we can pray and work out an intelligent plan for our finances, following principles from God’s Word and putting His priorities first.

2. Seek first His kingdom.

Take heart! Rather than letting our fears take over, Jesus urges His followers to anchor their thoughts on the most valuable thing in the world—knowing God and being part of His kingdom (Matt 6:33). In Christ alone we find true life, peace and joy. Money is a mirage of these things.

When we re-focus on God’s kingdom, we see that financial struggles are no different from other trials. Trials are not just random events in a believer’s life; they are opportunities to grow and become more Christlike in our attitudes and actions. Like all painful trials, financial afflictions are God’s pruning shears to enable us to bear more fruit for Christ (John 15:1-3).

For example, money troubles provide an opportunity to appreciate our amazing wealth in the Father of Jesus Christ, our refuge, treasure, true inheritance and portion forever. Money pressures humble us to pray and trust God like a child. They give our Father an opportunity to sustain us with His love and daily manna. They train us to think wisely through practical matters such as: budgeting, giving, lending and borrowing, use of credit, saving and investment, insurance, inheritance, and responsibilities towards children and extended family. A financial crisis can be a catalyst to develop a biblical theology of money.

As we re-orientate our hearts toward God’s righteousness and kingdom in the thick of our financial stress, we may notice the meaning and value we’ve attached to money:

Perhaps we’ve been relying on money as our source of safety and security. Maybe money provides validation. Or gives us power to control people and circumstances. Or we’ve forgotten that we own nothing apart from what God has given to us. We may be using money as a tool to impress or be accepted in a particular group.

Perhaps we have a problem with overspending or excessive debt that God wants us to deal with. Or maybe we are jealous when others are prospering and we aren’t. What room is there for jealousy when the King distributes all things according to His perfect knowledge and will?

It takes discipline to spend within the boundaries that God has provided and take responsibility for our personal finances. It’s hard to downsize expectations and spending. It’s hard to be content when the money runs out. But every financial crisis is an opportunity to grow in sanctification.

If we’re relying on money to provide us with security, power, identity, comfort, control or purpose, we are using money to find life apart from the Lord. There’s nothing like a financial crisis to expose this idol!

In seeking Christ’s kingdom and righteousness first, we begin to see financial troubles as part of the larger story of our sovereign God’s plan to redeem us in and through our unique trials. All the money in the world cannot buy this training and transformation!

3. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Matthew 6:34 is comforting, since Jesus acknowledged that each day has enough trouble of its own. Christ doesn’t minimize our daily struggles in earning a living and managing money in a fallen world. Planning for tomorrow is time well spent, but worrying is time wasted. Jesus notes that anxiety paralyses us from doing what God holds us responsible to do today. The emphasis is on today.

Each day’s trouble is enough to handle. As followers of Christ, we need to plan ahead and work to provide the necessities of life—food, shelter and clothing (1 Tim 6:6-10). It should be our “ambition” to lead a quiet life, to pursue our calling and work hard, so we may win the respect of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone else (1 Thess 4:11-12). But work is cursed with thorns and thistles (Genesis 3:17-19). Jesus acknowledges these everyday troubles of eating bread by the sweat of our faces.

At the same time, Christ wants us to be led by God’s greater goals for our money: loving our neighbour as ourself, giving generously, being found faithful with our possessions. After all, is this not the only fitting response to the foundational truth that God is the One who has given us everything we earn and own?

In 1 Corinthians 4:2, Paul writes,

“Moreover, it is required of stewards to be found faithful”.

Here are six practical principles to help us be faithful financial stewards of what God has entrusted to us:

1. Work smart. If you don’t have enough, you either need to earn more or spend less.
2. Spend smart. Live within your means and buy only what you can afford. Don’t go into debt for luxuries or liabilities. If you can’t pay cash, don’t buy it. Only borrow for assets like a house or a business. If you’re already in debt, develop a plan to pay it off as soon as possible.
3. Invest smart. Put your money into assets rather than liabilities.
4. Develop multiple income streams, so if one dries up you have others.
5. Build up your passive income, so your money is making money for you.
6. Give smart. Generous giving is part of being a Christian. You can never outgive God.

There is hope for the financially stressed! If our goals are to glorify God; to love Him more; and to be found faithful with our possessions, then financial stress is fertile soil for growth. Thinking about money biblically will develop in us contentment and joy as we find true life in Christ, who is life indeed. As James Petty writes,

“When our treasure is in our relationship with Christ, then we can be freed from seeking life in the things that we possess, and freed to actually live in the fallen world and remain in the Living Branch that bears fruit for eternity (John 15:5).

Prayer

Heavenly Father, you promise that you are “able to make all grace abound to [us], so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, [we] may abound in every good work” (2 Cor 9:8). You are our faithful Shepherd, and we have everything we need (Ps 23:1-2). Still our fears with a deep trust in your provision and care. Enable us to be faithful in very little so that we will also be faithful in much. We acknowledge that all we have earned comes from you, and all we own belongs to you. Please forgive us for the sinful ways we’ve viewed money and used it as a surrogate god. Forgive us for worrying instead of trusting you with the details of our lives. Grant us your grace to be wise and faithful stewards of your money. Amen.