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