What does God say? - Finances

I hope the rest of you enjoyed your 4th of July week.  I visited family in Michigan and had an absolute blast spending some time on the beach and relaxing with a good book.  It's a good 5~6 hour drive (more if you miss a certain on-ramp due to construction ;-) ) from where I live, and it's often an opportunity to reflect on things.  During these drives, my wife and I like to talk about various topics plaguing our minds.  Typically it borders on the mundane such as jobs, finances, things we have to take care of...  Some times we get into what I like to call the "meat" of life.  This time we started talking about, essentially, what is wrong with our society.

You see, my wife and I feel that there is an underlying problem with our culture.  We see a massive lack of objective morality.  Our society likes to look at everything *subjectively*.  We believe that things that we are facing only affects us, and that our steps of resolution are purely related to us and our specific situation.  As I continue to deepen in my faith, I feel more and more that this is completely untrue.  It appears to me that, if I take any given situation at face-value, and boil it to down what really are the basics of the circumstances, the Christian Bible can offer a perfectly workable solution 100% of the time.

Wait, what did I just say?  I know what you are thinking: there is absolutely NO way that an ancient STORY written hundreds of years ago ... even THOUSANDS of years ago, and written by many different authors, could possibly bear any light onto  my current situation -- let alone give me some insight on how to best resolve my dilemmas in life.

That's right, that is EXACTLY what I believe.

Before we go too deep into this, a lot of this stems from my current understanding of my relationship to my Heavenly Father.  You see, becoming a parent has altered my view of how I believe I am to relate to God.

As parents we have a responsibility to guard and educate our children in the paths we believe will best serve them for later life.  During this process, our children will often test us and ask us for things they believe will be beneficial to them *immediately*.  As an older (and hopefully more mature) human, I have a wealth of experience/knowledge/wisdom that allows me to see beyond my child's immediate desire, and look to their true needs.  So, instead of giving my child the candy that they deeply desire, but yet will keep them up until 10pm, I choose to give them an apple that will nourish them and allow them to sleep.

Where this all ties in is that, while I am an earthly father, God is my Heavenly Father.  He has experience/wisdom/knowledge that I could never attain.  When dealing with situations that are new to me or that I am struggling with, rather that succumb to my human nature/original sin of being arrogant enough to believe I can manage just fine on my own, I should turn to God's Word to see what His plan of dealing with my present circumstances should look like.

You see, by guessing on my own on how to resolve a situation I may very well resolve it sufficiently for myself.  However, in that resolution, did I ever glorify God?  How did I make sure to reflect Him, so that someone else might come to a better understanding of the Father?  This, I believe, is the primary reason why God has outlined so many situations in the depths of the Bible.

But wait, I know what you are saying, "this doesn't resolve my situation about [fill in the blank]", right?  Maybe it doesn't...but just maybe it does.  First you have to break down your situation.  What elements does it really comprise of?

Over the next couple of weeks I am going to spend some time talking about varying topics of where I am consciously making a choice to stand for God's Word, and die to my own definition of what I believe I should be doing.  For today lets look at a very prevalent area that many of us struggle with: finances

Q) I'm having a financially difficult time.  I have all of these bills, both expected and unexpected.  If something doesn't change soon, I'm going to lose EVERYTHING.  What does God say about this?

A) This is one of the basics.  No matter what day and age it is, finances have always been an issue.  The Bible talks ad nauseum about this.

1. Budgeting: Luke 14:28-30, Proverbs 27:33
2. Borrowing Money: Proverbs 22:7, Proverbs 22:26-27, Romans 13:8, Psalm 37:21 (also Charity), Ecclesiastes 5:5
3. Priorities: Matthew 6:24, Matthew 22:15-21, Deuteronomy 14:22-29

These are but a few references, but they are a great starting point.  Using this as a framework, we must first make sure we are setting our priorities correctly.  If we were to simply resort to our own methods we may consider borrowing from friends, taking out loans, selling stuff we have, etc.  Using God's plan, we first would need to examine our priorities.  We would first make sure that we are tithing to God.  Then we would make sure we are paying all the taxes that we owe.  Then we would create a budget to estimate the cost of our needs and our wants, taking into account what our income is.  A basic budget that is easy to adopt is the 10-10-80 rule:

1. 10% of our pre-tax income goes to God as tithe
2. 10% of our remaining income goes to savings
3. The rest of our remaining income goes to our normal expenditures (including taxes).

This is a fairly simple pattern that, while it may be initially difficult for some people to sacrifice their wants to ensure they are appropriately tithing, sets a great precedent for preventing latter financial hurdles.  People often rob savings and God to pay for wants (not needs).  Do you really need a larger home?  Sure it may be more convenient...but if you are robbing God or your savings (both of which can protect or buffer you from latter problems), is it really worth it?  God sets up such patterns for our lives not to make us unable to enjoy life, but rather to set up precedents for how we conduct our lives.  By setting up tithing as a pre-tax expenditure we are placing God at the head of our finances and demonstrating to Him that we are willing to serve, rather than seeking to be served.  When God leads, no matter what else may come, we can only succeed.

So, how do you get out of your present circumstances?  Don't wait until your are out of these difficulties to start adopting God's plan.  Do it now, and it will create a habit of healthy spending that will last a lifetime -- and will help guide your children, family, and friends -- glorifying God further!  Once you start trusting God, it's amazing what He does with your finances and what you have previously perceived as *needs*.  You may end up dumping cable or satellite TV.  You may go down to only 1 vehicle.  You may end up down-sizing in your home.  The important thing is that you do not let your pride stand in the way of what God NEEDS to do in your life.  God's plan isn't about you having all the wonderful gadgets that this world has to offer, new clothes when you desire, or even things we like to see as basics such as TV -- it is about glorifying God through our obeisance to His Word.  It is by setting examples that our children, family, and friends that create healthy habits.

...It is about allowing our selfish desires and pride to be replaced by His Will.

Thanks for reading.  Feel free to use the comments section below to ask me about what God says about other things that you face, and you might just find out how truly relevant God's Word is, even in our times.

Praise and glory be to God Almighty - the one who was, is, and always shall be.