PROGRAM W-1784 – Part II
I want to begin by quoting from Richard Foster, whose book, Money, Sex and Power, I read years ago and have never forgotten what he wrote:
When Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and mammon,” he is personifying mammon as a rival god. In saying this, Jesus is making it unmistakably clear that money is not some impersonal medium of exchange. No, mammon is a power that seeks to dominate us. You see, mammon makes a bid for our hearts. Mammon asks for our allegiance in a way that will suck the milk of human kindness out of our very being.
That is why so much of Jesus’s teaching regarding wealth is evangelistic in character. He calls people to turn away from the mammon god in order to worship the one true God. For Jesus, money is an idolatry we must be converted from in order to be converted to him.
Most sinister of all is money’s desire for omnipotence, for all power. It seems that money is not willing to rest contented in its proper place alongside other things we value. No, it must have supremacy.
When we begin to recognize that money can easily capture our heart and our allegiance—in other words, we can become a slave to money—then we are in a good place to make financial decisions and manage our money in a way that glorifies God, instead of letting money manage us. Let’s look at some further specific passages that give us important principles of money management.
Proverbs 21:5 says, “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” Making a plan of how your money is going to be spent is a wise thing to do. If you find that you’re having real difficulties with money, a good starting place is to keep track of every nickel you spend for a month. Get yourself a little notebook and force yourself to write in it every expenditure. The first thing you need to know is where your money is going. That will tell you immediately where you can save some money.
You may think that you have a real good handle on where your money is going, but my guess is that this exercise will teach you a great deal which you don’t now know about your money. It’s amazing how much we can spend on incidental items that seem, at the time, to be insignificant—just chump change, as we say. But add them all up and those incidentals can turn out to be a hefty portion of our spendable money.
Once you’ve kept a record of where your money is going, then you have the input you need to sit down and plan a budget. If you need some help doing this, there are many good books or trusted friends who can help you. In fact, we’ve assembled some very helpful information on beginning a budget and managing your money, and you’ll find that on our website at christianworkingwoman.org.
As you make out your budget, begin with needs: housing costs, food costs, transportation, etc. Remember to differentiate between needs and desires. For example, you may need transportation, but do you need the fancy car you’re driving or is that just a desire? You need food, but do you need to buy the expensive brands, or eat in restaurants so often? Usually within our needs, we can find room for saving money.
In talking about buying cars, Larry Burkett wrote this:
Many families will buy new cars they cannot afford and trade them long before their utility is depleted. Those who buy a new car, keep it for less than four years, and then trade it for a new model have wasted the maximum amount of money. . . We swap cars because we want to, not because we have to. Many factors enter here such as ego, esteem, and maturity.
Then he gives some hints for grocery shopping:
- Always use a written list of needs.
- Avoid buying when hungry.
- Use a calculator as you purchase your food so you can see when you’re exceeding the budget before you check out.
- Shop for advertised specials.
- Avoid buying non-grocery items in a grocery supermarket unless they’re on sale. These are normally “high mark-up items.”
Also, don’t forget to make saving some money a priority. We all need to think long-term when it comes to financial planning. Got little kids? You need to think about a college finance plan. We all need to plan for retirement in some way. You will want to be sure you include your long-range needs in your short-range budgeting; otherwise, those long-range needs will never be met.
Then commit that budget to the Lord and look to him for strength to live by it. Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” Pour prayer into that budgeting process—pray for the discipline you will need to make it succeed. It won’t be easy to make yourself live by a budget, but the freedom you will achieve from those constant financial worries will pay off in big dividends.
Remember Proverbs 13:18: “Whoever disregards discipline comes to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honored.” If you will heed the correction of setting up a budget and living by it, you will be honored by the Lord and you will be able to manage your money to his honor and glory. Money management is a spiritual issue, like everything else in the life of a believer.
I know I often find myself thinking, If I just had X-dollars, this wouldn’t be a problem? Or, If I were just rich, we wouldn’t have to raise funds for the ministry; money wouldn’t be a problem! But one thing I know for sure is that God teaches me many lessons about trusting him through money. It is certainly one area where God can get our attention pretty easily.
I want to finish my thoughts on managing your money with what I believe is the most important money management principle in the Bible—giving it away. Let me quote again from Richard Foster’s thoughts on the power of giving away money:
The grace of giving is often a tremendous stimulant to the life of faith. This is why the offering is correctly placed as part of the worship experience.
If our spiritual vitality seems low, if Bible study produces only dusty words, if prayer seems hollow and empty, then perhaps a prescription of lavish and joyful giving is just what we need. Giving brings authenticity and vitality to our devotional experience.
Money is an effective way of showing our love to God because it is so much a part of us. We sing, “Take my life and let it be, consecrated, Lord, to Thee.” But we must flesh out that consecration in specific ways, which is why the next line of the hymn says, “Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold.” We consecrate ourselves by consecrating our money.
When we let go of money, we are letting go of part of ourselves and part of our security. But this is precisely why it is important to do it. It is one way to obey Jesus’ command to deny ourselves. “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).
Proverbs 11:25 reminds us that “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.” One of the best ways you can prove that money is not your god is to give it away. Think of someone right now who needs some money. Take some money out of your pocket or your checking account, put it in an envelope and mail it or give it to them—anonymously perhaps. Doesn’t matter how small it is. Just give it away. You will be refreshed, and you will find great joy in doing it.
When we give money away, it is an act of faith that says, “Money is not as important to me as the Lord and as others,” and in so doing you are sending a strong message to yourself and to the Lord about your attitude toward money. It really is amazing how the act of giving away money will help to break its power over us, for in so doing we realize the joy of giving and see that even though we gave it away, we still have what we need. It really is true that a generous person will prosper and, when we refresh others, we are ourselves refreshed.
Jesus told us to lay up treasures in heaven because rust and moths do not corrupt up there and thieves do not break through and steal. In other words, whatever we send on ahead of us to heaven will be a totally safe investment, whereas when we try to store things up on earth, those treasures are totally vulnerable. Any good money manager would choose the safest investment.
When we give money to others in the name of the Lord, we are storing treasures up in heaven. And, as Jesus said, because that’s where our treasure is, that’s where our heart will be also. This means that our thoughts, our emotions, our feelings, and our loyalties are tied very closely to our treasure and where we have our treasure invested. If it’s invested in heaven, we will be more and more heavenly minded, more and more focused on eternity, and less and less vulnerable to the vagrancies of this earthly system.
The only area in which God asks us to test him is in this matter of money. In Malachi 3:10 we read, “’Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.’” Are you regularly giving God his tithe?
I think of a dear listener in California who owns her own business. She committed to the Lord to give him the tithe, no matter how tough things became financially. She gave the Lord his tithe before she wrote her own paycheck. There were weeks when she couldn’t see how she could make her payroll, but each time, God supplied just what she needed. Now, her business is thriving—she has more to give to the Lord! She has tested and proved God’s faithfulness.
Financial planning for believers must include this as the highest priority. If you haven’t discovered the joy of giving your money to the Lord, you’re missing a special blessing. I encourage you to make this your starting place for managing your money more effectively. God asks you to test him, and he has promised you a blessing.
I hope you will join me in getting serious about being a better steward of the money God has entrusted to you and managing that money better. Hopefully these thoughts have been helpful to you. We have prepared some information to help you in managing your money. You can find it, along with a copy of this two-part devotional, on our website: christianworkingwoman.org.