Have you ever heard someone say, “If I could just win the lottery” or “If I could just make $20,000 a month, THAT would fix EVERYTHING“.
I have!
When people think that making $20,000 a month would fix everything, it’s not just because they have money problems. It really stems to a much deeper issue than that.
The Bible doesn’t tell us that making money or having wealth is the root of all evil. It specifically tells us in 1 Timothy 6:10 that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils (sins). There’s a slight but very distinct difference between the two statements.
For our own benefit as Christian women, we need to determine (really try and seriously pinpoint) why we think that making $20,000 a month would fix everything.
I say this because a lot of people don’t necessarily understand what’s really tugging at their hearts that has them feeling that money is the answer to their problems.
I mean, we’re torn and pulled in a million different directions every day, and many don’t take the necessary time to think that deeply. But honestly, we need to pray and search for what’s driving this thought. Because while it may alleviate some temporal issues, it will also add a lot of new ones. So let’s take a closer look at why money won’t ACTUALLY fix our problems.
If only I could make $20,000 a month, that would fix everything
The Bible talks a lot about money, around eight hundred times, give or take from what I could find. And if asked, the verse people associate the most with money is 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”
Unfortunately, misunderstanding that verse has caused some people to intentionally choose poverty or shy away from asking for a well-deserved raise or even taking on odd jobs or starting a business. However, you need not be afraid that earning money (or the desire to make more money) always means you’re disobeying God.
Take a look at the second sentence in the 1 Timothy 6:10 passage of Scripture where you can see it says *it’s through this craving that people have wandered away from the faith*.
As you read that part of the verse, you can see it is basically alluding to greediness as the reason why people decide to choose the world’s ways over God’s ways, and because of that, they wander away from the faith (whether they do it intentionally or not). And it is to those types of greed-driven situations and scenarios where the Bible is saying to us that the hunger and pursuit of money won’t fix our problems.
So how do you discover what’s at the heart of the matter, as in what’s causing you (or someone you know) to feel that large sums of money each month will solve everything? First, you take it to the Lord in prayer. Ask Him to help you understand why you feel this way.
And if things are so bad or it’s gotten totally out of control, and you need to cry, God will listen to every sob and unspoken word. You are His child, and He knows your pain before you even bring it before Him.
You can feel comfortable as you humbly approach Him because you are completely safe in His presence. He is the only One who knows what’s truly in your heart and what’s driving this desire for you, which is why He is the only One who can help you get to the root of the problem. 🥰
So ask Him to reveal it to you. You might not feel any differently immediately, but I believe you will have at least begun the process of allowing God to permanently heal your heart.
Jesus says the following in Matthew 19:23-24, And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
Jesus is saying that wealth hinders many people from entering heaven. That basically, people who are driven by wealth will also cause them to pursue and allow many other types of sinful things in their lives, which will eventually end up moving them further and further away from God.
Sometimes we need to be extremely grateful that God hasn’t allowed us to make $20,000 a month! 👏
Having money drives us away from God. Having all our needs met, we stop seeking God daily for provisions. We start taking for granted in OURSELVES. *I* put that food on the table. I don’t need GOD to do it. I can do it myself. It leads to an arrogant heart and sometimes, dare I say most times, we don’t even realize we’re doing it! Sin can be so subtle and really creep in unawares.
And why I can confidently say this is because, and let me ask you this – how would you feel if, when all is said and done and at the end of our lives, would you be excited to have just experienced the biggest eternal regret possible – being punished to a life you’ll be forced to forever have to spend in hell? Despite the way a lot of people act during their lives on earth, no amount of money can get someone out of hell.
Another reason that money won’t fix all of our problems is that a lack of or inability to make money may actually not be the cause of our problems. Things like depression, discontentment, jealousy, loneliness, rejection, etc., could be what’s at the core of our problems.
For example, maybe people around you are finding love or getting pregnant, or even landing a fabulous new (insert whatever it is for you), and you say to yourself, “If only I could make $20k a month, that would fix everything.”
But if you look further down and keep asking and probing, you may actually discover that what’s really going on inside you is that you feel a little rejected or jealous – and not necessarily in a snarky way – but in a genuine way.
You could be coming from the standpoint that you’re tired, and worn down because you’ve been praying for a spouse, a baby, or a new “something” for months, and it seems like heaven has been silent and ignoring or even rejecting you. And that can really, really, really hurt. It can be painful to the point where it can almost feel like a punch in the face when God gives them something but seems to pass you by.
Trust me, we’ve ALL felt that way from time to time!
And if you only had that substantial extra money coming in each month, you wouldn’t need a spouse to help you share those financial responsibilities. And you wouldn’t want a child so badly because, with all of the extra money, you would be able to try new hobbies or take more trips with your nieces and nephews, which would help fill the void. You wouldn’t worry about things so much because you would be able to pay your bills every month and you could do whatever you wanted to with your working hours.
Now that’s a lot of hypothetical extrapolating or concluding going on there 😬 but hopefully it helped you to see the importance of uncovering (and pinpointing) what’s really at the heart of wanting to make $20,000 a month. Because once you can put words to or articulate it, then you can start searching your Bible for verses that speak on it.
Say you end up discovering its rejection at the core of your feelings. If you did a topical Bible or concordance search, you would find 1 Peter 2:4, “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,…” And Psalm 27:10, “For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.”, along with Psalm 34:17-20 and so on.
You can then zero in on the words, study, and memorize them – meditate on them and pray them back to Jesus to help you in your pain. He wants to be the Source of life-changing wisdom and guidance for you here and now, and He’s provided everything we need in His Word. And He’s given us a logical brain to work through this and the Holy Spirit to help us – we’re on the winning team – we can be victorious. You got this!
You probably remember the movie A Christmas Carol and the three ghosts that visited Ebeneezer Scrooge to help him change his ways. And if so, remember that Mr. Scrooge was unknowingly in dire straits simply because he put all of his focus on money. Well, the same can be true for us when we attempt to put everything (our focus, time, energy, etc.) we have into money, money, and more money.
Tthe truth is that money won’t fix all our problems, but Jesus can.
He can heal every nook and cranny of us that hurts or that wants more and is fixated on getting it. He can give us those new desires we desperately need that will replace our worldly desires and thoughts like, “If I could just make $20,000 a month, it would fix everything.” The sooner we humbly come before Him, the quicker all of this can turn around for us, even if it just starts off slow with a gradual change of heart that He provides.
If you’re saying to yourself, “Man, I just don’t have enough. I don’t need $20k/month to make it, it won’t fix everything and I see that now, but how about let’s just start with my current bills.”
Okay!!! Awesome.
Here’s why people don’t have enough…
1) They are impulsive (Proverbs 21:5)
The whole world throws at us on a continual basis to HURRY, RUSH, buy that thing. As a business owner online, we are shown to create a FAKE SENSE OF URGENCY. That means FAKE counters that say you have 10 minutes to buy and…you really don’t. We all know it’s fake. You go back after 10 minutes, and you see that counter again with another 10 minutes. Or, if it’s not there, you open an incognito browser and see it again. It’s all fake, and it’s a scam!
Online, TV commercials, park benches, everywhere has advertisements trying to separate you from your money, and we buy into that.
We buy the fake counter for 10 minutes. We buy what we see. We have no sense of discipline, and we impulsively give our money away, and this leads us to debt and getting in over our eyeballs.
If you see something you want to buy, take time before you buy it. If I’m spending over $30, I take 24 hours to decide. Usually overnight because, when I wake up, somehow my brain seems to “reset” (does that happen for everyone???), and I’m able to think more clearly. So take at least overnight to think about it.
Talk it over with your husband. Do you know that our husbands are given to us as a blessing?! And one of the ways that husbands bless us is their ASTOUNDING GIFT of being able to see through scams. Oh, they are VERY discerning. God hard-wired men to be discerning. Now, obviously, not all men ARE, but most of men ARE discerning. They see through the scams. It’s WOMEN who actually get scammed more than men. Our emotions, we are preyed upon more, etc.
So it’s very IMPORTANT to talk things over with your husband. If HE sees something as a scam, walk away!!!!! No questions, just trust his discerning ability and walk away. He is your PROTECTION ladies! 💖
Take some time to talk it over with your husband, take time to think about it, take time to see if there are any other options (do an internet search…is it cheaper somewhere else?), take time to seek the Lord on it (does He want you to have it, do you have the money for it, will it further the kingdom of God), and take time to let those emotions (impulses) go away. After you’re able to step back and think clearly, if you still wanna buy it, and you have the money for it, no problem. Go for it!!!
2) They have a lack of discipline (Proverbs 13:18)
Going back to the impulse decisions and developing discipline in your life, this is one reason why some people never feel like they have enough. They live their life in an unordered way.
They don’t balance a checkbook; they don’t learn from their past mistakes; they are irresponsible with money; they don’t live on a budget; they don’t learn to say no or establish priorities in their life so that they CAN say no to the things that don’t line up to their priorities.
They just never really pull their life together to be disciplined on purpose.
3) They are stingy and selfish (Proverbs 11:24; Luke 6:38)
They are not giving to God. They are not helping others, supporting missionaries, supporting biblical companies, they are keeping all the money for themselves spending on themselves.
Listen, God is a GENEROUS God. Whatever you reap for the kingdom of Heaven WILL be given back to you and more in abundance (if the heart is right). We can’t just give away $50 and expect $100 back as if God is some soda machine. It doesn’t work like that.
Our hearts have to be real, and we have to be giving because we want to serve Him and further the kingdom of God and giving is NOT just MONEY. It is money, but it’s more than that. Are you giving your TIME to help the needy? Are you serving with your writing skills on a blog? Are you teaching others about Christ (maybe in a blog, maybe in your church ladies group, however you come across needs and opportunities). There are LOTS of ways to give, not just money. Are we being faithful to do those things?
4) They are lazy (Proverbs 20:13; Proverbs 23:21)
Some people don’t have enough because they are not willing to work. If you have opportunity to work and you don’t do it, maybe you HAVE TO take that second job for a season to make it through. Yes, it stinks, but it might be necessary. We have to work to earn our food.
We are to help our husbands, so we want to line up our lives in a way so that we have all OUR work done (taking care of the kids, taking care of the home) and THEN not being lazy in order that we help our husbands make the income so as to relieve pressure off of him.
That is the standard. That’s what we want to do. If your husband makes an incredible income, and you don’t need to work to help provide, awesome. It’s your choice: don’t if you don’t want to. But maybe you want to work so you’re not idle (idleness leads to temptations and sin) or maybe you want to work to pay for a vacation. Maybe you just want to be used for the kingdom of God (that’s why I blog!!!) I’m desperate to have my life COUNT for eternity.
Whatever the case may be, work hard WITH your husband in order that you not only pay your bills but have more so that you can give (so that you CAN BE blessed by God financially as you are gracious in your giving to help others).
5) They are indulgent (Proverbs 23:21)
They spend their lives on lavish things. Things that are not necessary, and it’s okay to buy lavish things once in a while or if you have the money and say you’re decorating a part of your home or something. But for a person who continually purchases lavish things, brand new cars, boats you don’t need, second and third and fourth vacation homes, it gets to be too much.
You want to make sure you’re saving for a rainy day, having at least 6 months income in your bank account and not spending that money unless it’s a true emergency. If you have trouble NOT spending it, open up a two signature account at a local credit union with your spouse.
Then you are not able to take the money out unless you both go in, in person, to withdraw the money and tellers are trained to look for signs of any forceful behavior (such as a spouse forcing them to sign). If there is even a HINT of forced behavior, as a teller, we were trained to go directly to our manager and let them deal with the situation and investigate it (subtly) more, making SURE it’s okay and legit.
6) They are schemers, swindlers, and cheats (Proverbs 28:19)
They are the people who are putting those 10 minute fake counters on, trying to scam people out of their money in a false sense of urgency.
They are the ones who are always looking for a massive amount of money with a very low amount of effort. Make $10k tomorrow kind of thing. They have way too high of expectations and are always looking on “hitting it rich”.
It’s not wise. God gives generously, but only when we act in accordance to His laws. We cannot expect to gain wealth by cheating others. Now, there are some who DO get rich by doing this, there are scammers everywhere, but this is meant to be understood by the Christian. For Christians, God keeps us accountable to Him to steward HIS money wisely not through ill-gotten gain.
That means doing business differently than your peers. On my course site, Million Dollar Shop®, I have all my payment plans at 0% interest. While I don’t THINK it’s usury to have an interest rate on something like a course that is not a true need (food, shelter, clothing), I just feel convinced it’s the right thing to do. It’s a witness to the world that I’m not all about money. It’s a witness to Christians that I’m not trying to scam them, that they are safe with me, and that I genuinely care.
It means doing business in a way that is not like the world. It means obeying God, obeying your convictions, and not scamming others but genuinely helping them.
Sometimes people come to me, and they just can’t figure out WHY they are not getting an audience as a blogger. Why they seem like they can’t make it in blogging or in a shop or something. I always think of the verse, Luke 16:10-11. It says:
“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?”
What I want you to notice is the term true riches. What IS true riches? Well, to God true riches is souls. It’s people.
So if you are not faithful with what He HAS and DOES already give you, why would He ever give you an audience to serve?
I remember one time God convicted me of this. He convicted me that the “seal of my apostleship”, and I’m not saying I’m an apostle at all; I’m saying it’s the IDEA behind it, the seal of the idea that I’m legit is MY AUDIENCE. It’s YOU.
I want you to look at something. And I don’t say this to boast, please understand, but I want to walk you through this so that you can understand fully in order that you apply it to your life.
If you know something about blogs and businesses, anyone online who has a site has what’s called a DA score. It stands for domain authority. It is basically like your trust level in the world. Bigger, more popular businesses have a higher DA score. The higher you have, the better.
Amazon is 96, Michaels is 77, Instagram is 93, Pinterest is 94, and so on.
Now, lemme ask you a question. Do you know the company The Happy Planner?
They are an incredibly popular company who produces super cute planner stuff. You find it at Michaels, Hobby Lobby, etc. Just absolutely adorable stuff (I’m a fan if you can’t tell!) 😂
Look at their trust level score, their DA score currently:
Then take a look at my DA score currently:
It’s the same. That means, to the world, I have the same trust level, same popularity as The Happy Planner. I mean it’s just utterly SHOCKING!!!
My little blog that I started as a single mom. This thing I pour my heart and soul into. My shop products, my Shopify store selling printables, is just as good as The Happy Planner. It’s just unbelievable how MUCH God has raised me up. It’s incredible all He’s done.
The point is that HE (and HE ALONE!!!) gives that success. It’s not through my wit or charm or even my hard work (although I DO work very hard at this blog), and it’s not because I’m some super human (believe me, I’m not!), it’s because of Christ. It’s because I’m faithfully obedient to Him. I spend my money wisely (not always perfect as no one is perfect, and we all make mistakes), but that as you spend your money, He gives more. And when you spend it well, He gives you souls to care for.
Maybe that’s a blog.
Maybe that’s in your local church or Salvation Army.
Maybe that’s within your own family – how you raise your own children, the souls you’re touching there, to be able to handle more souls in the world.
But whatever it is, wherever you are, God will provide you people in which to shepherd based on your faithful obedience to Him AND, according to that verse in Luke 16, based on how you spend your money!!!!
Isn’t that amazing. I mean, you can literally guarantee your blog’s success if you are spending your own personal finances well. Again, it’s a heart issue. God is not a soda machine to put in something and get something out. But if it’s your heart’s desire to serve others (it is mine!) then you can HAVE a blog if you’re willing to spend your money wisely and faithfully obey Him.
He gives generously, lavishly to His children. But we have to be disciplined in order to receive those treasures.
So go through the above list, see where you can improve, and take care of it. Let the Lord with all His grace and abundance bless you RICHLY! Not with just temporal things, but with souls, with lives, with eternity treasures!!!!!
I don’t know the details of your situation. But what I do know is that someday, all of our problems will disappear and that, my friend, is good news! So when it’s hard, painful, or even lonely – whatever it is – remember there is a beautiful day coming soon when we will enter into His glorious presence for all of eternity!
