Marie is a friendly, outgoing and accomplished woman. She’s one of those women who you want as your friend. A while back she said to me, “No wonder I never have any money!” That’s when we entered into a great conversation about Marie’s personal finances.
For the first time in decades, Marie had sat down and really figured out how much she consistently earns. And then she added up how much she consistently spends. That was when the “writing on the paper” took her by surprise. She was spending just about every penny that she earned. Plus, she had to admit she had a hard time accounting for a lot of the dollars that had vanished from her accounts.
The truth is, Marie is like most people these days. I’m not sure why, but for some reason personal money management isn’t practiced like it used to be! Of course there are all kinds of reason we could cite for this problem. Maybe it’s because ATM machines, automatic payment plans, and debt cards have caused us to lose the real value of money. I admit, there are times when I don’t use cash for weeks. My debit cards are so convenient. And a lot of my bills are paid by automatic withdrawals.
Perhaps money management went out the window with the “ostrich syndrome.” That’s when you’re struggling with money so much for so long that you just don’t want to deal with it. So you don’t look. You just bury your head and hide from the hard facts. I get that. There was a time when looking at my bills and my bank accounts was just too depressing. I didn’t need the cold, hard facts to bring me down even further!
Or, maybe money management seems too complicated and tedious. Tracking spending? Creating a budget? Sticking to a spending plan? That just may seem too much for some folks.
That’s where Marie was at. She told me she always felt like managing her finances just took too much time. And she didn’t seem to have enough hours in the day as it was. So how could she possibly spend any more time looking at her spending, which she said was a task worse than cleaning the basement or emptying her cat’s litter box!
That’s all fine, except when money becomes a problem. When there’s more month than there are dollars. And when you start wondering how you’re going to ever retire or send your kids to college or pay for your daughter’s wedding.
A recent study by the Pew Charitable Trusts reported that half of American families are spending all the money they make just to pay their regular monthly bills. Middle-class families would spend all their savings in just 21 days without any other income coming in. Plus, they’d use up all of their retirement and investment savings within just four months.
Other studies show that most American are living paycheck to paycheck. Quentin Fottrell reported on Money Watch these sobering facts: “Approximately 62% of Americans have no emergency savings for things such as a $1,000 emergency room visit or a $500 car repair, according to a new survey of 1,000 adults by personal finance website Bankrate.com. Faced with an emergency, they say they would raise the money by reducing spending elsewhere (26%), borrowing from family and/or friends (16%) or using credit cards (12%). “
When we compare these reports with what the Bible has to say, we see a huge gap. One of the names of God is Jehovah Jireh – God the Provider. And throughout the Scriptures we learn of Him caring for His people and blessing them with abundance, financial stability, and even wealth in some cases.
As followers of Jesus Christ, how should we be? Should we be stressed out and struggling with money? Or should we be secure as we trust God for our financial stability and receive the direction and guidance from Him so that we live in the peace, joy and rest Jesus gained for us through His death and resurrection?
One thing I know for sure is that our Lord is orderly. And when our financial matters are disorganized and chaotic, we are not aligned with His ways. That’s what Marie discovered. And even though it stung when she first realized that she was overspending and not being a good steward of the funds God had placed in her hands, she quickly found that with order and with a plan comes peace and hope.
How about you? Are you in the minority with enough in savings. Your financial records are in order. And you don’t have any money stresses?
Or, are you like the majority of men, women and families in America and in other parts of the world? You’re struggling. You know you can do better. And you also can use some pointers and help. You want to learn how to bring God into your money matters and yield to His care.
The answers and even the secrets to managing our finances by using our faith are all found the Scriptures. God wants us to have what we need. He want us to depend on Him for our security. And He wants us to be at peace and secure.
If you would like to learn more about how to integrate your faith in this area of your life, I encourage you to join me for a complimentary mini-class that we created from a live teaching event. Here are the details:
- How to bring the truths of God’s Word into the way you manage your personal finances.
- How to submit yourself to God so that He becomes your very own Financial Adviser
- How to design a personalized spending plan that will get your bills paid on time, relieve anxiety, and move you toward financial stability.
If you want to learn how to integrate your faith with your personal money matters, then I hope you will join me for this time of sharing. I’ll share some of what I learned when I went through a really hard time that you can start using in your life as you continue your own faith journey.
I hope you will join me. Just click on the link above to register.