If Money Talked | Week 1
The Consumption Assumption:
Money Says: I can add meaning to your life, but I am not the meaning of life.
Discussion:
How was money handled in your house growing up?
What was modeled about money for you in the past often influences the assumption you hold about money today.
Which of the following statement do you strongly agree or strongly disagree? What might influence your answers?
The details of my finances should be kept private from family and friends
If I work hard, I have the right to play hard.
My salary and my possessions are an indication of my success.
Once I have everything I need, I should be generous with what I have left.
Carrying a balance on my credit card is okay
Giving my kids nice things is one way I show I love them.
Children should be told the details of our family finances.
Someone once said, “You work for your money, or your money works for you.”
Money can be a tool to add meaning to your life as it works for you.
Our money, or lack thereof also known as debt usually driven by greed, or I want it now instead of when I can afford it, can begin to control our lives.
The writer of proverbs put it this way…
Read: Proverbs 22:7 The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.
The Pastor said “greed is the assumption that it’s all for my consumption.”
What is your reaction to this definition?
Has your financial situation ever impacted whether you were able to do something you felt strongly to do?
Has your finances ever dictated your decisions? (Example, you wanted to stay home to raise your kids but you had to many bills so you couldn’t)
Read Luke 12:15 “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
Read the next question and have each person reflect on their answer to themselves.
Have you shifted to autopilot in your finances?
Have you lost track of goals you once had especially the ones related to being generous?
What expenses are you trying to justify?
Are you willing to entertain another way of thinking about money?
Remember:
No one who applies what Jesus taught about money to their personal finances ever regrets it.