If you do a Google search for bible verses about money, you’ll find an abundance of them.

“For the love of money is the root of all evil” - 1 Timothy 6:10

“Whoever loves money never has enough, whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income” - Ecclesiastes 5:10

“For where your treasure is there your heart will be also” Matthew 6:21

These are just a few verses about money, and for many of us just starting our lives as real grownups money is a struggle. We are paying off student loans, and possibly working for less than we thought we would be making, if we have a job at all. For some of us this leads to jealousy and hard feelings towards people who seem to have plenty of money. We watch people with the newest gadgets, nicest designer clothes or accessories and we think, “Must be nice…”

We are often influenced by what culture tells us we “deserve”. We see all of the nice things on the commercials and on shows that feature the richest of the rich and think, “Must be nice…” We start to believe that we deserve all of these things and that it’s someone’s fault if we don’t have them. Maybe we didn’t get that high paying job, and it’s their fault we don’t have enough. Or maybe that boy/girl left us and we would have had enough if we were married.

All of these excuses fall short, because in reality we don’t deserve anything. We are sinful people who are saved by the grace of a loving God. So maybe in our celebration of our grace we could start praising God with the ways we use our money. If we focus more on what God has done for us, and what we can do to show our obedience and thanks for what we do have, maybe we won’t be so focused on what the world says we deserve.

When we focus on God, and not the material possessions of the world, we can remember the practice of tithing. Tithing is the practice of giving 10% of one’s income back to God. We may convince ourselves that we can’t afford to tithe, we don’t make enough money, and when we make a real salary we’ll start then. But the reality is that we can. We can order our priorities to find ways to give to God what is God’s.

Proverbs 3:9 says “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops.” We often give God the leftovers, but we need to flip our thinking. God gave everything for us, and it’s time to start giving our best back to God.

Questions for Reflection: How do you view money? As something to gain, or as a means to live life?

Do you tithe? If not what is keeping you from tithing?

What could you do without, so that those who have nothing could have more?

What would it look like if all you had to live on was what you have given to God in the past year? How does this make you think about the money you have given?

See more devotions from Sara and our other Young Adult writers, or find our how you can become a writer yourself, at our By Young Adults for Young Adults devotion page.