25 Verses That Give Us a Biblical View of Money
Finances
Audio By Carbonatix
5:04 AM on Tuesday, January 6
By Whitney Hopler, Finances
Money is an essential tool in our lives. Day by day, much of our time and energy goes toward earning and spending money. While it’s important to pay attention to money, it’s also vital to approach it from an accurate perspective. We don’t need to worry about having enough money to meet our needs if we trust God, who has promised to guide us and provide for us. Here are 25 Bible verses about money that illuminate what the Bible says about money and how to manage money well in our daily lives.
What Does the Bible Teach Us about Money?
We can learn vital insights about money from the Bible. The foundational concept the Bible reveals about money is that we should place our trust in God, rather than in money, to meet our needs. We can be tempted to devote more attention to money when our focus is on our circumstances instead of on God, who promises to take good care of us. However, Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:21: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” He elaborates in Matthew 6:24: “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
The Bible teaches us to put our hope in God instead of in money, because God is reliable and generous. In 1 Timothy 6:17-19, we learn: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”
More Bible Verses about Money
In addition to the 3 Bible verses about money that we’ve already explored, here are 22 more:
Hebrews 13:5: “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
1 Timothy 6:10: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
Ecclesiastes 5:10: “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.”
Matthew 21:12-13: “Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. ‘It is written,’ he said to them, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.’”
Acts 8:20: “Peter answered: ‘May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!’”
Romans 13:8: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.”
Matthew 19:21: “Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’”
Luke 12:33: “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.”
Malachi 3:10: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”
Proverbs 13:11: “Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.”
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Psalm 37:16-17: “Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked; for the power of the wicked will be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous.”
Proverbs 17:16: “Why should fools have money in hand to buy wisdom, when they are not able to understand it?”
Luke 3:14: “Then some soldiers asked him, ‘And what should we do?’ He replied, ‘Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely – be content with your pay.’”
Exodus 22:25: “If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal; charge no interest.”
Matthew 6:2-4: “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
Proverbs 10:4: “Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.”
Mark 12:41-44: “Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on.”
Luke 14:28: “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?”
Revelation 3:17: “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”
Ecclesiastes 7:12: “Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: Wisdom preserves those who have it.”
Acts 4:32-25: “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.”
1 Samuel 2:7: “The LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.”
How to View and Handle Money in Our Daily Lives
This biblical wisdom frees us to view money simply as a tool for conducting transactions in our daily lives. We may consume money, but money doesn’t need to consume us. Money has no power over us other than what we choose to give it. Money shouldn’t lead us; God should lead us. While money is important, it’s only a tool – and we can choose to use that tool wisely. Through our relationships with God, we can access the wisdom we need to manage money well.
Pursuing awe is a powerful way to shift our focus away from money itself to the God who makes it possible for us to have money. We can intentionally look for signs of God at work in our lives every day. Encountering God’s wonder inspires us with awe, regardless of how much money we currently have. That leads to fulfillment in any financial circumstances. Well-being research in my book Wake Up to Wonder shows that when people feel awe, they report less interest in material products and more interest in experiences – especially spiritual experiences that can help them draw closer to God. They also report feeling greater life satisfaction, and that satisfaction doesn’t depend on good financial circumstances.
Once our focus is centered on God rather than on money, we can make the best decisions about money day by day, as God leads us. God can help us with every financial choice we make if we pray for guidance about it. That includes decisions about job opportunities for earning money, budgeting, spending, taking on debt or paying off debt, saving, giving, investing, and more.
Conclusion
Bible verses about money show that, while money is an important tool to use in our daily lives, it’s no more than that. Rather than placing our trust in money to meet our needs, we should trust God to meet our needs. Money comes and goes, but God’s care for us is constant and reliable!
Whitney Hopler helps people discover God's wonder and experience awe. She is the author of several books, including the nonfiction books Wake Up to Wonder and Wonder Through the Year: A Daily Devotional for Every Year, and the young adult novel Dream Factory. Whitney has served as an editor at leading media organizations, including Crosswalk.com, The Salvation Army USA’s national publications, and Dotdash.com (where she produced a popular channel on angels and miracles). She currently leads the communications work at George Mason University’s Center for the Advancement of Well-Being. Connect with Whitney on her website at www.whitneyhopler.com and on her Facebook author page.
