According to the US Census Bureau, one in every seven Americans lives in poverty. But there are some very simple steps to reduce this rate… dramatically. Robert Rector, a senior Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, says there are 3 Golden Rules to avoid poverty:

• Graduate from high school
• Marry before having children
• Get a job

Actually, being married is even more significant than graduating from high school for avoiding poverty. But unwed childbearing has risen from 6.3 percent of all births in 1964, when President Lyndon Johnson launched the War on Poverty, to more than 40 percent today. As Rector shows, these single-parent families with children are six times more likely to be poor than are married couples with kids. Put differently, marriage lowers the probability of child poverty by 82 percent. So how does this apply to God’s financial principles? First, Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction”. God teaches us not to despise instruction but to seek wisdom and knowledge. He endorses education.