When flipping though a magazine yesterday, I came across a good article by Susan Taylor entitled, “Piggy Banks and God’s Abundance.” She discusses helping your children to have a good and biblical understanding of money. She writes,
“We have learned to be honest with our children about money. When I’m saying no to a request to purchase something or go somewhere, I almost never say, ‘We can’t afford that,’ because that is rarely true. We can afford most anything we want or have to do. But that’s not the main criterion for making and modeling financial decisions. I don’t want them to think we’re poor. I want them to understand that as children of God, we’re inexpressibly rich…So instead I say, “We’re choosing not to spend our money that way” (Sojourners, May 2008, page 40).
What an important distinction to make, especially for children. In addition to teaching them about our richness in Christ, it teaches them that we don’t make financial decisions merely upon how much money we have in our pockets. Moreover, it teaches them that although we might be able to afford something, it might not be wise to buy it.
