The 10 Basic Commandments of Money Matters

Out of 30 parables, 19 are set in an economic context, almost two-thirds of them. The lost coin, the parable of the talents, the parable of the rich fool, and many more. The Bible has thousands of verses about financial issues.

How are people in our day and culture doing when it comes to living with financial wisdom from God's perspective? I'd suggest not terribly well.

Here are 10 Basic Commandments of Matters

#1. Thou shalt remember who the owner is and honor the Lord

Proverbs 3:9 Honor the Lord by giving him the first part of all your income, and he will fill your barns with wheat and barley and overflow your wine vats with the finest wines.  
Psalm 24:1 The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.

Jesus Affirmed and Validated the Tithe

Matthew 23:23-4 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel
Deuteronomy 8:17-18 If you start thinking to yourselves, I did all this. And all by myself. I'm rich. It's all mine! ...well, think again. Remember that God, your God, gave you the strength to produce all this wealth so as to confirm the covenant that he promised to your ancestors — as it is today.

#2. Thou shalt rejoice and be glad for thy work

Proverbs 20:4 Those too lazy to plow in the right season will have no food at the harvest.

Proverbs 10:4 Lazy people are soon poor; hard workers get rich.
Proverbs 22:13 The loafer says, There's a lion on the loose If I go out I'll be eaten alive! (The Message)
Colossians 3:22-24 And don't just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you'll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you're serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus, [a Christian] doesn't cover up bad work (The Message)

#3. Thou shalt not fall into debt

Proverbs 22:7The poor are always ruled by the rich, so don't borrow and put yourself under their power.
Don't put yourself in jeopardy through unwise debt
Deuteronomy 24:6 Do not take a pair of millstones—not even the upper one—as security for a debt, because that would be taking a person's livelihood as security.

#4. Thou shalt teach my people about wise finances (especially children)

Proverbs 24:3-4 A house is built by wisdom and becomes strong through good sense. Through knowledge its rooms are filled with all sorts of precious riches and valuables.

Psalm 34:11 Come, my child, and listen closely. I will teach you obedience to the Lord. 

#5. Thou shalt have a financial life plan

Proverbs 27:23-27 Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds, for riches don't last forever, and the crown might not be secure for the next generation. After the hay is harvested, the new crop appears, and the mountain grasses are gathered in, your sheep will provide wool for clothing, and your goats will be sold for the price of a field. And you will have enough goats' milk for you, your family, and your servants.
Proverbs 23:23 Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, and attend to your herds…
We need to know where our money is going because ignorance + easy credit = disaster
Proverbs 21:5 Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.

PRAY & BUDGET & PRAY

Proverbs 21:20 In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has.
The 10-10-80 plan

#6. Thou shalt be contended and declare, "Enough is enough!"

Proverbs 30:15 The leech has two daughters. Give! Give! they cry
1 Timothy 6:6-10 Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can't take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. 
Many people in today’s economy feel it is harder to:

• Pay for college - 77 percent
• Find good jobs - 74 percent
• Save for retirement - 71 percent
• Get ahead financially - 66 percent
• Afford health care - 64 percent
• Find decent, affordable housing - 54 percent

#7. Thou shalt find your value and worth in the Lord

Proverbs 28:20-25 The trust worthy person will get a rich reward, but a person who wants quick riches will get into trouble. Showing partiality is never good, yet some will do wrong for a mere piece of bread. Greedy people try to get rich quick but don't realize they're headed for poverty. In the end, people appreciate honest criticism far more than flattery. Anyone who steals from his father and mother and says, what's wrong with that? is no better than a murderer. Greed causes fighting; trusting the Lord leads to prosperity.
James 3:17 My brothers [and sisters], don't show favoritism...Has God not chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised to those who love him? But you have insulted the poor.

#8. Thou shalt generously give and serve others

Proverbs 19:17 Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD. 

We cannot out-give God

Luke 6:38 For if you give, you will get! Your gift will return to you in full and overflowing measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use to give-- large or small-- will be used to measure what is given back to you.
With the measure you use, it will be measured to you

#9. Thou shalt seek wise counsel

Proverbs 11:14 Without good direction, people lose their way. The more wise counsel you follow, the better your chances.
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 2:2 So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding;

Proverbs 2:6 For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;
Proverbs 2:7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly; 

#10. Thou shalt look forward to thy final accounting

Proverbs 21:5 Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.
Amos 8:4-9 Listen to this, you who walk all over the weak, you who treat poor people as less than nothing,  Who say, When's my next paycheck coming so I can go out and live it up? How long till the weekend when I can go out and have a good time? Who give little and take much, and never do an honest day's work. You exploit the poor, using them — and then, when they're used up, you discard them...on Judgment Day, watch out! (THE MESSAGE)
Luke 12:48 From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
Loves God in front of people and love people in front of God!