The Bible and the Headlines: News You Can Use – Cash for Christmas

By Editor | December 27, 2023

By David Bachelor, PhD

There is a report coming out of the British Isles that could doom Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer to the unemployment line. This report is trending on the internet through news sources around the world. According to a poll conducted by NatWest Bank through their children’s spending app Rooster Money, the poll found most children prefer cash over toys. And the kids do not care if the “cash” is delivered virtually. If the poll is accurate, there will soon be no need to guide a sleigh or slide down a chimney.

When the children get their wish and have the money, this will create a new problem for parents. The December 20th edition of The Telegraph featured, “Britain’s Schools Are Failing to Make Our Children Financially Self-Sufficient.” The author incorporates a range of studies conducted in the United Kingdom. One of these studies asserts, “Good habits start young – much earlier than 11… children are forming attitudes around money by the age of five, and we should start talking to them about it at three or four, when they understand that some things cost more than others.” The author insists parents and teachers need to work together on this task.

Crossing the ocean and crossing the continent, the California newspaper Union Democrat pre-empted the Telegraph article with its December 13th piece, “Why You Should Have Money Conversations with Your Children Early.” Like its British counterpart, this article warns parents public education will not replace parental involvement, “If you think school will prepare your children for the many financial decisions they will face as young adults, think again.. . only 23 states require high school students to take a personal finance course to graduate.” The best method of parental instruction is to make financial conversations a regular feature of the dinner table.

On December 20th, the United Arab Emirate based The National featured, “Six Strategies to Get Children Excited about Investing.” The article begins with an acknowledgement that kids are more interested in Barbies or dinosaurs than compound interest. To counter a child’s natural indifference to finance the author offers parents this training strategy, “Make it relatable, gamify the process and give them time to practice.” Like the British and American articles, this Arabic source says the best financial lessons for kids are learned when conversations about money are a normal part of the family.

The Bible informs parents, “If a child is trained up in the right way, even when he is old, he will not be turned away from it” (Pro 22:6). Not only does the Bible contain the truth about God, but it is full of financial guidance for parents to pass on to their children. Take for example Proverbs 13. This chapter sets the correct ethos about gaining wealth: “People who refuse to work want things and get nothing. But the longings of people who work hard are completely satisfied” (v.4) and “Money that is gained in the wrong way disappears. But money that is gathered little by little grows” (v.11). Diversifying investments is found in Ecclesiastes 11:2, “Invest in seven or eight ventures because you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.” Proverbs 19:17 has a teaching on money lending not found in secular precepts, “When you help the poor you are lending to the Lord—and he pays wonderful interest on your loan!” Jesus assumed his disciples had financial experience when he taught, “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, to determine if he has the resources to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’” (Luke 14:28-30). Jesus taught his disciples that money could be a rival to God, “No one can serve two masters. Either a person will hate the one and love the other, or the person will be devoted to the one and despise the other. No one can serve both God and money” (Matt 6:24).

In response to the Natwest poll that says children prefer cash to toys, 1 Timothy 6:10 says, “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.” This is the conversation that parents need to have around the dinner table with their children. Such talk is a gift Rudolph could never deliver.

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