A Personal Money Manifesto - Part Four

Proverbs 23:5 (NIV)  Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.

My attitudes and choices are impacted by money and what I believe about it. I live in a materialistic world – therefore I am subject to its pulls and pushes. These stand in contrast to the purposes and place of money in the will and kingdom of God. The more I seek God’s will and ways, the more I will be drawn away from thinking the world’s thoughts and doing things the world’s way. This relates to work, worry, wants, waste, and worship. In this fourth installment of my “personal money manifesto” I am addressing the connection between money and waste in life.

WASTE – It has often been said that “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. I understand that to mean that in the mind of one person a thing can be of little or no value, while at the same time in the mind of another person that same thing may be highly valued. It reminds me of the statement that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. The idea is that beauty is a relative concept, dependent upon the individual doing the observing. What constitutes “waste”? Is this, too, a relative concept? Landfills and recycling stations are filled with “stuff” that someone once “treasured” (to some degree) enough to spend his money for it. If you spend some time at or near a landfill you will vividly learn that “this world in its present form is passing away” (1 Corinthians 7:31). In the year ahead Joanne and I will be “taking inventory” of our “stuff” as we prepare to relocate. Do you think we will come across anything that we wish we had not spent money on? Do you think we will find anything that, in the end, was just a waste? I know we will. All of us – were we to “take inventory” in some way – can find things we regret spending “good” or “hard-earned” money on. At the time we thought we needed “it”, but it turns out we didn’t. At the time we thought it was so important to have, but it wasn’t.

Being wasteful is “using or expending something of value carelessly, extravagantly, or to no purpose”. One of the biblical words for it is “prodigal”. In Luke 15 Jesus relates what we call the story of the Prodigal Son. The younger son in the story takes his inheritance prematurely and, in Jesus’ words, “squandered his wealth in wild living” (Luke 15:13). It is one of the lowest feelings in the world to look back (“hindsight is 20/20”) and see nothing but loss… having nothing to show for one’s efforts. You feel foolish, empty, and useless. This is what waste does to the human soul. Yet we all leave a trail of waste behind us. How can we learn? How can we slow it down? How can we overcome our propensity for it?

One step is to actually take time for doing inventories. Though it is painful to see our mistakes, we can learn from them and make better decisions in the future. Waste is “unwanted or unusable materials… any substance which is discarded after primary use, or… is worthless, defective and of no use”. An inventory may allow us to forward the use of something rather than just trashing it (wasting it all the more). Hopefully it will increase our wisdom moving into the future.

Another strategy might be to pay only with cash. We tend to spend way to freely when we use plastic. Another strategy might be to avoid the purchase of anything that is not in “the plan” (a budget of some kind). Another strategy might be forcing yourself to wait a period of time before any purchase (over a certain amount, for example). Another strategy could be taking time to deliberately pray when entering a store, going on Amazon.com, pulling out your card/wallet, etc., so that you remember where your money came from. Then ask the Lord if His blessing is on “this purchase”. It may sound silly to pray before buying a candy bar or a cup of coffee or a pair of sunglasses. But it could be very helpful in slowing our propensity to waste… while increasing the time we spend consciously in the Lord’s presence.

Therefore…

-          I will seek to be careful in my spending choices and in my manner of spending (not being impetuous).

-          I will seek to avoid spending any money on any form of gambling.

-          I will seek to simplify my possessions, giving me less to worry about, less to clean, less to store, and less to be distracted by, and less to throw away.

-          I will seek input from others before many kinds of purchases, asking them to ask me honest questions about my plans. This could even included establishing an accountability partner.

-          I will seek to use some sort of system (budgeting) to give me limits (guidelines) for my spending.

-          I will seek to make saving money a priority in my financial life.

-          I will seek to make prayer a vital component of my financial choices and decisions.

Would you add anything to my list?

I recognize my need to continue to grow in this area. It is one of the places in my walk with God that comes under the greatest attack. The amount of waste in my life is a reflection on my self-centeredness and selfishness. Thoughts creep into my mind… like… “I wonder what I could have done with that (money) to help people and meet needs and ‘make a difference’.” Or… “How did I ever manage to get into this debt”? Or… “I’ve made so much work for myself – ‘caring’ for this stuff!” Perhaps you have thoughts like these. They remind us of our need for grace. Looking backward might possibly move us to change, but it is moving forward that I think is so important. And for that I desperately need God’s grace… I need His mind and will… and I need His strength and power. May the Lord rescue us from ourselves!

I read the attached article from Christianity Today Women recently. I thought it related to this topic in an interesting way. May the Lord bless you as you consider these things in relation to your own life.

NEXT WEEK – Money and Worship

John 6:12 (NIV)  When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted."

Mark 14:3-5 (NIV) ³  While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. ⁴  Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, "Why this waste of perfume? ⁵  It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor." And they rebuked her harshly.

Luke 16:25 (NIV)  "But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.

Luke 12:15 (NIV)  Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

 Luke 12:20-21 (NIV) ²⁰  "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' ²¹  "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

Proverbs 21:20 (NIV)  In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has.

James 5:1-3 (NIV) ¹  Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. ²  Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. ³  Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.

Matthew 6:19-20 (NIV) ¹⁹  "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Exodus 20:17 (NIV)  "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

PRAYER:  Father, show me grace that I may be able to discern what is wasteful… before I spend my money on it. Thank you for all that I have. It has all come to me by your hand and ultimately I am accountable to you for it all. Teach me good stewardship of all things, for – in the end – they are yours.  In the name of Jesus, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!    

Scott

A Personal Money Manifesto - Part Three

Philippians 4:11-12 (NIV) ¹¹  I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹²  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

Money connects into our lives in several ways. The last two weeks I have described two: in our work and in worry. Our work (and it’s connection to money) either honors or dishonors God in our lives. Worry (specifically as it relates to money) is a sin (of idolatry) that displaces our confidence and trust in God, treating Him as weak and unable to take care of us and to fulfill His promises to us in Christ. Either one of these can consume us and interfere greatly with our walk with God.

WANTS - This third part of my personal money manifesto deals with another challenge to right thinking about money in my life: wants. Since I wrote a check-in about this not too long ago (January 24), I want to reference that here. I wrote about the “want book” (Sears catalog) I grew up with, learning to desire many things (most of which were not needs). Here is an excerpt from that Check-In…

“I want things. We are drawn to desire things. I think it’s pretty normal, and I don’t believe it is necessarily ‘wrong’ to want something. The problem is whether or not that wanted thing is in any way in conflict with God’s purpose or plan for me (and for my money). For example, in my life right now I have a want for a particular house (with a specific street address) in South Carolina. I do not believe that it is wrong to want a house. I have never owned one because a parsonage of some sort has always been supplied to me in the churches where I have served. Over the years I have been saving and I hope to be able to buy a home someday. But it is not as simple as just wanting this house. For one thing, it is not for sale. For another thing, if it did go on the market, it might end up being with a price beyond what I could pay or should pay (or try to pay). It’s a modest home by MDI standards. But that’s not the point. While wanting something is not necessarily wrong, we all know it can become wrong if it is not tempered by, or surrendered to, the will of God. For example, if something bad had to happen to the current occupants of the house (who are unknown to me), I would NOT want the house. Or if purchasing the house was a step of bad judgment (risky or foolish in some way), I would not want the want to overtake the wisdom that would serve me better.”

            As I write this eight months later, God has provided Joanne and me with a home to transition (I don’t use the word “retire”) to when we leave First Baptist. After much prayer and hard work – with a fair amount of patience as well – we found a home within three miles of our daughter’s family. We have tried to be very careful and wise with the resources God has provided to us, and to Him we give all the glory and honor. It was worth it to wait on Him and not to be careless in putting our wants above Him. We believe He has met our need as we move forward into a new phase of our lives. And for this we are very grateful.

            Of course, a want doesn’t have to be as big as a house. It can be as small as a toy or an article of clothing that we just “have to have”. What I am constantly learning (and needing to learn more) is that God is the final decision maker about what I really “have to have”. Being submissive to this truth helps me avoid sin and deal with temptation in a much more successful way. And God’s grace and the filling of His Spirit make it possible.

Therefore…

-          I will seek to surrender my wants (each and every one – big or small) to my Father’s will.

-          I will seek and expect joy in the Lord in whatever His will is for me.

-          I will seek to be a good steward of the resources God blesses me with, managing (budgeting and directing) them toward the meeting of needs and turning off the impulse-to-buy “switch” within me.

-          I will seek to pray about everything – especially in the area of my spending and seek the advice and counsel of godly men and women as well.

-          I will seek to simplify my life, endeavoring to diminish the things around me (and the purchase of more) that have little significance or may reflect a materialistic bent in me.

-          I will seek to think eternally about the things I spend (or want to spend) my money on.

-          I will seek to avoid becoming a victim of my credit card, and if it begins to get out of control, I will destroy it before it destroys me (Romans 13:8).

Would you add anything to my list?

May the Lord help us, His disciples, to shorten our list of wants and lengthen our list of “Thy will be done”s. And as we constantly turn our wants over to Him, may we become satisfied and happy with His provision.

NEXT WEEK – Money and Waste

1 Timothy 6:6-10 (NIV) ⁶  But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸  But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. ⁹  People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Hebrews 13:5 (NIV)  Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

Philippians 4:19 (NIV)  And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

PRAYER:  Father, please give me strength to stand against all of the temptations around me, particularly the strong tendency toward materialism which leads me to value things more than I value you. Please forgive me for my proneness to overvalue the shiny, the expensive, the cutest, the latest, and the most popular, things. Lead me always to contentment. Thank you.  In the name of Jesus, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!    

Scott

A Personal Money Manifesto - Part Two

Philippians 4:8-9 (NIV) ⁸  Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. ⁹  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Last week I shared about the connection between work and money in our lives. I indicated that work – as it relates to money - can have a positive or negative impact in our lives: it can be God-glorifying or sinful. Today I move on to another experience in our lives that relates to money, and this one is negative, and results in sin in our lives. Yet it is a common part of life and can easily slip into taking control of our lives.

WORRY – There are many things that can occupy the mind of a worrier: my relationships, my appearance, my abilities (or lack of), what people think of me, the safety and well-being of my children or other loved ones, my health, death, possible loss, what I’m going to say (in a conversation or speaking before a group), and so on. Just yesterday morning I found an empty bottle of tequila under the apple tree in front of my house. It makes me wonder who was around my house overnight and exactly when. Should I keep my windows open at night? What if someone is coming up to the house? What’s going on? It would be easy to escalate my emotions and experience the power of worry taking over. What’s the problem with that? The problem is that worry – in whatever shape, form or extent it takes – displaces my trust in God. This is what makes worry a sin – it becomes more prominent than my faith in the Lord. Worry is the inverse of faith. It cannot survive in the mind and heart of a person who is exercising faith. Worry proclaims that God is not strong enough or caring enough to watch over me and keep me. Most of us would be loath to say that we believe that God is weak. But that is exactly what we do when we worry.

At or near the top of every list I found of common worries people experience is something related to money, and it is usually about having enough, paying bills, and having money in the future. Most people worry about some aspect of money in their lives. Those with a lot of money in investments will worry about how well they do… or don’t do. Those who have experienced want in their lives will often worry about not having enough again. Those who have emergency costs will worry about how everything is going to get paid. Students who borrow a great deal of money for college will worry about if they will ever be able to pay it back. Will the economy collapse? Will I lose my job (income)? Will my identity be stolen? Will I ever be able to afford a house? Will I ever be able to enjoy life and feel like I have gotten ahead? What will happen if my spouse divorces me or dies? Could I ever become homeless? These are just a few possibilities on a much larger list. And they will have power and influence over us if there is not a greater power and influence, and that is the character and the Word of God, who is Lord over all, and who is completely worthy of my trust and confidence.

Therefore…

-          I will set my mind on the things of the Lord (Colossians 3:1-2), knowing that He alone (and what honors Him) is eternal. This will also help me avoid wasting time on worrying about money.

-          I will seek first His kingdom and righteousness (Matthew 6:33), knowing that God will take care of everything that is a “thing” in this world.

-          I will seek confidence in God even when I have financial trouble or difficulty (Romans 8:28).

-          I will seek contentment in all circumstances (Philippians 4:11-13).

-          I will seek to daily express confidence (to God in prayer) that my life is in His hands.

-          I will seek to enjoy and focus on the blessings that I have, for worry will produce and ungrateful heart within me (Colossians 3:15, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Hebrews 12:28).

-          I will seek advice from wise and godly people.

-          I will pay my debts, and avoid debt that I cannot pay off (Romans 13:8)

-          I will guard my health (sleep, proper eating, exercise) when money issues cause stress and strain (Matthew 6:25-32).

-          I will seek to talk calmly about money rather than fight about it with my spouse , parent, or child (Colossians 4:6, 1 Timothy 4:12).

-          I will seek to avoid solving my problems (with worry) with alcohol or any other substance or practice that is harmful to my mind, body, or relationship (with God or others).

-          I will seek to focus on today and avoid letting the future and its potential troubles overwhelm me. (Matthew 6:34).

-          I will seek to pray regularly and entrust my relationship with money to the Lord and make it subject to Him.

-          I will seek to live simply, believing that the more I have, the greater my temptation to worry will be. So I will trust God to provide for my needs and not be consumed by my wants.

Would you add anything to my list?

I seek these things in response to God’s grace to me in Jesus, as a means to trust Him in practical ways. Disciples do not live in bondage to worry, but follow the One who has saved them fully and completely by His great work on the cross. So I surrender my worry to His Lordship of my life, including my attitudes about money.

NEXT WEEK – Money and Wants

Matthew 6:25-27 (NIV) ²⁵  "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ²⁶  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV) ⁶  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 37:25 (NIV)  I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.

Philippians 4:19 (NIV)  And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

PRAYER:  Father, may my faith in you be strong. Remind me daily of you trustworthiness and your love for me. Remind me that my life is in your hands and that you are Jehovah-Jireh… my Provider. And thank you.  In the name of Jesus, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!    

Scott

A Personal Money Manifesto

Matthew 6:33 (NIV)  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

In reflecting on the sermon I preached on Sunday, a number of thoughts have come to my mind concerning my relationship with money and all that it represents in life. Judas Iscariot, a disciple of Jesus who saw and heard everything Jesus did, ended up turning away from Jesus for the sake of his first love: money. And in the end his affection for money led to his destruction. He was not the last person who was ensnared and destroyed by money. As I’ve thought about his part in the Story, there are five things that I have considered in relationship of money and my own life. The following “manifesto” is an attempt to consolidate some of these thoughts in a personal way. This is my own response and is not intended to point a finger at anyone but myself. I share it with you because you may be able to identify with some or all of it. The five things are concepts that relate to money (what I think about it, how I use it, how it affects me, and what spiritual value it has). Each one is encapsulated in a single word that begins with the letter W – Work, Worry, Wants, Waste, and Worship. I will take them one week at time.

WORK – is a blessing and a gift from God that pre-dates the breaking of this world by sin (Genesis 2:2,15). It is part of a creation of God that is described as good. But work has been corrupted like everything else because sin entered the world. And work is one of the things that Christ is redeeming in the cross and in the establishing of His kingdom. Work is not inherently evil, but it can be made to be so. Work is not opposed to the things of God, but it can be made to be so, and whenever and wherever it does not bring glory to God it becomes an idol in my life. Work is the means for creating wealth, but it is loaded with dangers that can harm my relationship with God. Therefore…

-          I will seek to do all my work as unto the Lord… for His purposes and as a means of serving Him (Colossians 3:22-24). This includes the work I get paid to do and the work I don’t (like washing dishes or raking leaves).

-          I will seek to do my work with excellence, diligence, and faithfulness (Proverbs 22:29).

-          I will seek to work so as not to be a burden upon others - whether government, church or family. I recognize that as long as I am able, I am financially accountable for myself and work is one of the ways that God provides for me (Deuteronomy 8:18, 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12, 2 Thessalonians 3:8-13).

-          I will seek to keep a proper, godly perspective on my work. I do not want my work to come between myself and God. I do not want it to rob me of time for worship and devotion, time for growth in fellowship and service, and time for my family. I do not wish to be a “work-a-holic” who obsesses over the making of money. Nor do I wish to be lazy and dependent upon others (Proverbs 6:6, 10:5, 20:13, 21:25, 24:30-31, 31:13,27, Ecclesiastes 10:18).

-          I will seek to serve my family’s needs through my work. My work is one of God’s means for caring for my family (1 Timothy 5:8).

-          I will seek to see my work as one of God’s means for meeting people’s needs in the world, insofar as my work is part of a greater system through which God blesses people (as participants in various kinds of work of their own and also as direct recipients of benefits that my work provides in their time of need).

-          I will seek legitimate work… work that is ethically and morally approved of by God and by the principles of His Word (Proverbs 21:6, Jeremiah 17:11, 22:13, Acts 16:16-20).

-          I will seek to enjoy my work, and/or to find ways to please God in it.

-          I will seek honorable relationships with my employer, my coworkers, and with those whom I serve through my work (1 Corinthians 4:12-13).

-          I will seek to be thoroughly honest in my workplace, truly earning my pay and treating the property of others with respect. I want to be trustworthy (Genesis 39:6, 2 Kings 12:15, Proverbs 11:1, 13:11).

-          I will seek to do everything I can to make my work God-centered, and to prevent any aspect of it from becoming a form of idolatry through which I worship money, myself, or anyone or anything other than Jesus Christ.

What would you add to my list? It certainly has room to grow and encompass other aspects of work as it relates to money and to God.

I seek these things in response to God’s grace to me in Jesus, and not as a means to gain His love or acceptance. My understanding of and approach to work is a form of discipleship – following the One who has saved me fully and completely by His great work on the cross. My work is just one means by which I acknowledge His Lordship of my life, including my attitudes about money.

NEXT WEEK – Money and Worry

Matthew 6:24 (NIV)  "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

Proverbs 22:29 (NIV)  Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men.

Deuteronomy 8:18 (NIV)  But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.

PRAYER:  Father, let me glorify you in the course of my work. It is easy to become discouraged in the workplace world, but I know you are there just as you are present in every place at all times. Help me to keep my eyes focused upon you in and through every aspect of my work. Thank you.  In the name of Jesus, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!    

Scott