Returning to God for Such a Time as This

A Godly Woman and Money: Building Wealth God’s Way

By Thami Moatshe | Percer Consulting

This was at the heart of my Women’s Day message: how a Godly woman thinks about, manages and builds wealth, not simply for herself, but for her family, her community and the generations that will follow.

Seventy years ago, in August 1956, thousands of courageous South African women marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest against the pass laws.

They marched for freedom.

They marched for dignity.

They marched for a better future.

As we celebrate the legacy of those women, I believe our generation is being called to another kind of march.

A march towards financial freedom.

The women of 1956 helped shape the political and social future of South Africa. Our responsibility today is to help shape and build the economic future of our country and to ensure that the generations that come after us inherit greater opportunity, greater financial knowledge and greater economic participation.

But for me, that journey begins with something deeper:

Returning to God.

Everything belongs to God.

Psalm 24:1 says: “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”

Everything we have ultimately belongs to God.

Our money.

Our businesses.

Our careers.

Our skills.

Our opportunities.

Our ability to create wealth.

We are therefore not owners in the ultimate sense.

We are stewards.

And that changes the way we should think about wealth.

The question is not simply, “How much can I accumulate?”

It is also:

“What has God entrusted to me, and what am I doing with it?”

That is where building wealth God's way begins.

As the subject of finance is broad, I have based it on 7 principles to guide us in digging deeper after this.

Principle 1: A Godly Woman Understands Why God Gives Wealth

Some Christians believe that God blesses us so that we can have nice things, probably true but Deuteronomy 8:18 gives us a deeper perspective:

“Remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” Deuteronomy 8:18

Notice that God doesn't simply promise to give us wealth.

He gives us the ability to produce wealth.

That ability can take many forms.

God gives us ideas.

He gives us skills, knowledge, creativity, relationships, opportunities etc.

He gives us businesses that can be built and problems that can be solved.

Sometimes we pray, “Lord, bless me,” while God is saying:

“I have already placed something in your hands. Use it.”

Think about the widow in 2 Kings 4.

When she needed help, Elisha asked her:

“What do you have in your house?”

God started with what she already had.

The same question can be asked of us today.

What do you have? What can you do? What do you know? What problem can you solve? What skill have you been overlooking?

Some women can bake, sew, teach, farm, trade or build businesses.

Some can become accountants, executives, directors and entrepreneurs.

The question is not always what you don't have.

The question is: What has God already placed in your hands?

We need to stop waiting for wealth to simply happen to us and start recognising the capacity God has already given us to create value.

Principle 2: A Godly Woman Works Hard

The Proverbs 31 woman provides one of the clearest biblical examples of a woman who created value, she was a hustler.

She was not sitting around waiting for wealth to find her.

She worked, traded, negotiated, bought property, managed her household.

She invested, employed people. She created value. She was productive. She was entrepreneurial.

And she was not lazy.

Ecclesiastes 11  talks about us investing in many ventures. Verse 6 says: “Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.”

There is an important lesson here for us:

We should not be afraid of work, enterprise and creating value.

And where possible, we should think beyond one source of income.

Ask yourself:

If my salary disappeared tomorrow, how many income streams would I have?

Perhaps your income comes from employment.

But could you also build a business?

Could you consult?

Could you invest?

Could you earn rental income?

Could you create another legitimate source of income?

The objective is not to chase every opportunity.

It is to build financial resilience.

A woman who creates value is not simply working for money.

She is building capacity.

And that capacity can create opportunities not only for herself, but for others.

 

Principle 3: A Godly Woman Is Financially Intelligent

Hosea 4:6 says: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

Sometimes our financial problem isn't simply that we don't have enough money.

Sometimes it is that we don't understand money.

We know everything about celebrities, entertainment and social media, but do we understand interest?

Do we understand inflation?

Do we understand how our pension works?

Do we know what a Tax-Free Savings Account is?

Do we understand an ETF?

Do we understand tax?

Do we understand the importance of a will?

Do we understand how debt works and what it costs us?

Financial knowledge protects wealth.

We need to become more financially literate and more confident in engaging with financial matters.

We should understand basic financial tools such as for example:

• Emergency funds

• Retirement annuities and pension funds

• Preservation funds

• Tax-Free Savings Accounts

• Unit trusts

• Exchange Traded Funds

• Shares

• Property

This does not mean every woman needs to become an investment professional.

But we should know enough to ask questions, understand risk and make informed decisions.

And sometimes the best investment is not property or shares.

Sometimes it is ourselves.

A course, a qualification, a new skill

The more valuable your skills become, the more valuable your earning capacity can become.

Knowledge is an asset.

Principle 4: A Godly Woman Avoids Financial Traps

Building wealth requires us to know what to do.

But it also requires us to know what not to do.

There are financial traps that can destroy years of hard work.

The get-rich-quick mentality

Proverbs 13:11 says:“Wealth gained hastily will dwindle.”

If someone promises extraordinary returns with little or no risk, be careful.

If someone promises 20%, 30%, 50% or double your money every month, don't get excited.

Get suspicious.

If you cannot understand where the returns are coming from, don't invest simply because someone you trust recommended it.

Godly wealth creation is not about greed.

It is about wisdom, patience and stewardship.

Ponzi schemes

Many people have lost their life savings because they invested without understanding the underlying business model.

If the emphasis is more on recruiting people than selling a genuine product or service, walk away.

We must stop confusing popularity with legitimacy.

Lifestyle inflation

Every time our income increases, our lifestyle should not automatically increase with it.

A salary increase becomes a new car, a new phone, clothes etc. and despite earning more, we have created no additional wealth.

Every increase in income should create an opportunity to increase our assets, not simply our consumption.

Signing surety without understanding the consequences

We often make financial decisions based on relationships.

“He is my cousin.”

“She is my friend.”

“I know them.”

But relationships are not financial risk assessments.

You can end up carrying someone else's debt.

Understand what you are signing before you sign it.

Borrowing for status

Never borrow money simply to impress people.

The people you are trying to impress will not pay your instalments.

Emotional spending

Sometimes we spend when we are lonely.

When we are stressed.

When we are angry.

When we are celebrating.

When we are bored.

Money can easily become an emotional outlet.

But financial wisdom requires us to pause.

Feelings are real, but they should not always make our financial decisions.

Principle 5: A Godly Woman Invests

Saving and investing are not the same thing.

Saving protects wealth. Investing seeks to grow it.

Jesus' Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25 gives us an important principle of stewardship.

The servants were entrusted with resources.

Those who put what they had been given to work were commended.

The servant who buried what had been entrusted to him was rebuked.

God is not against investing.

He is not against multiplication.

He is not against wealth creation.

What matters is how we pursue it.

Investing should not be gambling.

It should not be driven by greed.

It should not be about trying to get rich overnight.

Wise investing requires knowledge, patience, discipline and an understanding of risk.

It means putting resources to work with a long-term perspective.

As women, we need to become more comfortable with the language of investing.

We should understand the difference between saving and investing.

We should understand risk.

We should understand diversification.

And we should understand that wealth creation is generally a journey, not an overnight event.

The goal is not simply to have money sitting somewhere.

The goal is to put our resources to work responsibly.

Principle 6: A Godly Woman Leaves an Inheritance

Proverbs 13:22 says: “A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children.”

That is a powerful statement. The Bible asks us to think beyond ourselves.

It asks us to think generationally. An inheritance is not only money. It can be a business, property, investments, education, knowledge, wisdom, faith or character.

Our children should not simply inherit what we accumulated. They should inherit the knowledge of how to build, manage and protect what we accumulated.

This is where our responsibility as women becomes much bigger than our personal

financial circumstances.

We are raising children. We are influencing families. We are building businesses.

We are participating in the economy. We are shaping communities.

And therefore, every financial decision we make has the potential to influence someone beyond ourselves.

Wealth becomes powerful when it becomes generational.

Principle 7: Returning to God Means Returning to Integrity

The final principle brings us back to where we started.

If everything belongs to God, then how we handle money matters to God.

Luke 16 reminds us that if we cannot be trusted with worldly wealth, who will trust us with true riches?

Our faith cannot exist in one part of our lives while our financial behaviour exists in another.

Integrity means paying our taxes.

It means not stealing from work.

It means not manipulating tenders.

It means not lying on applications.

It means not abusing church funds.

It means not borrowing money and disappearing.

It means not pursuing dishonest gain.

Our bank account should reflect our Christianity.

We cannot say that we belong to God and then pursue wealth through dishonest means.

The goal is not simply to become wealthy.

It is to become faithful stewards of wealth.

The March Begins With Us

Imagine what could happen if women across South Africa became more financially educated.

If more women started and grew businesses. If more women invested.

If more women owned assets. If more women understood financial markets.

If more women sat around boardroom tables. If more women created employment.

If more women taught their children about money.

If more women used their resources to strengthen their communities.

That would be more than individual financial success.

That would be economic transformation.

It would mean fewer women being financially vulnerable.

More families building assets.

More businesses creating employment.

More children growing up with financial knowledge.

More women making financial decisions from a position of knowledge rather than dependence.

And more resources available to support our communities and advance the Kingdom of God.

The women of 1956 marched because they understood that their actions could change the future.

Today, we have a different challenge. And we cannot do it by simply waiting for someone else to create the opportunities.

Our march is towards financial freedom, ownership, wealth creation and economic empowerment.

And above all, we must steward what God has entrusted to us with wisdom and integrity.

So perhaps the question is not simply:

“Lord, will You bless me?”

Perhaps the question is:

“Lord, what have You already placed in my hands, and how can I faithfully multiply it?”

God doesn't just want women to survive.

He wants women to become faithful stewards who create wealth ethically, bless their families, advance His Kingdom and leave an inheritance.

Seventy years after our mothers and grandmothers marched for freedom, perhaps it is time for us to take up the next march.

The march towards financial freedom.

And this time, we are not only marching for ourselves.

We are marching for the generations that come after us.