The greatest Christian financial quotes condense centuries of biblical wisdom into single sentences you can memorize, paste in your wallet. Pray over your finances.
From Augustine to Wesley to Spurgeon to Dave Ramsey, faithful Christians have left short-sentence treasures on stewardship, giving, work, contentment. Debt. This guide collects 50 of the strongest. Organized by theme, attributed accurately, with context and application.
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On stewardship and ownership
- Augustine: "Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others."
- John Wesley: "Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can."
- R.G. LeTourneau (Christian industrialist): "The question is not how much of my money I give to God, but how much of God's money I keep for myself."
- Randy Alcorn: "God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving."
- C.S. Lewis: "If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small."
On giving and generosity
- Spurgeon: "Some people give according to their means, and some according to their meanness."
- Martin Luther: "I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess."
- Mother Teresa: "It's not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving."
- C.S. Lewis: "Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you will get neither."
- John Bunyan: "You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you."
On debt
- Dave Ramsey: "You must gain control over your money, or the lack of it will forever control you."
- Dave Ramsey: "Live like no one else, so later you can live and give like no one else."
- Solomon (Prov 22:7): "The borrower is the slave of the lender." See Borrower Slave Lender.
- Charles Spurgeon: "Debt is the prolific mother of folly and crime."
- Larry Burkett: "The use of credit assumes that the future is more certain than the present."
On work and diligence
- Martin Luther: "The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes."
- Dorothy Sayers: "The only Christian work is good work well done."
- John Calvin: "There is no work, however vile or sordid, that does not glisten before God."
- Tim Keller: "Work is so foundational to our makeup that it is one of the few things we can take in significant doses without harm."
- Solomon (Prov 14:23): "In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty."
On contentment
- Paul (Phil 4:11): "I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content." See Philippians 4:13 Meaning.
- Jeremiah Burroughs (1648): "Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every condition."
- C.H. Spurgeon: "You say, 'If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.' You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled."
- A.W. Tozer: "It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it."
- Solomon (Eccl 5:10): "He who loves money will not be satisfied with money."
On wealth and danger
- John Wesley: "When I have money, I get rid of it quickly, lest it find a way into my heart."
- Augustine: "Charity is no substitute for justice withheld."
- John Calvin: "Riches in themselves are not evil; but when they get hold of the heart, they become a vehicle of every wickedness."
- D.L. Moody: "You can talk all you please about being a Christian, but if your money is not consecrated, you are not a Christian."
- Jesus (Matt 6:24): "You cannot serve God and money."
On tithing
- Charles Spurgeon: "You say, 'Well, I have a right to do as I will with my own.' That is the talk of a heathen, and not of a Christian."
- Randy Alcorn: "Tithing isn't the ceiling of giving; it's the floor."
- Malachi 3:10: "Bring the full tithe into the storehouse… and thereby put me to the test." See Malachi 3:10 Meaning.
- Jesus (Matt 23:23): "These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others."
On eternal investment
- Jim Elliot: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
- C.T. Studd: "Only one life, twill soon be past; only what's done for Christ will last."
- Jesus (Matt 6:19-20): "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth… but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven."
- Randy Alcorn: "You can't take it with you, but you can send it on ahead."
- Augustine: "What you give, you have. What you keep, you lose."
How to use these quotes
- Memorize one per week — 50 quotes = nearly a year of weekly meditation.
- Print 5 favorites and tape inside your wallet/checkbook.
- Open family conversations — read one at the dinner table.
- Pair with action — let each quote drive one budget change. Use our Budget Calculator.
- Translate to giving — quotes on stewardship should drive tithe + generosity. Use our Tithe Calculator.
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