We can be super smart with money, always buy items on sale, shop around for the best deals, and stay perfectly within our budget each month. We can live very frugally, make food and household items from scratch, recycle, reuse, patch, repair, and gratefully accept hand-me-downs. We can work hard, pay off all our debt, build up our savings account, and put ourselves in a wonderful position financially.
Awesome. Go you! Rock that budget. Being wise with our money is just what we’re called to do. Becoming financially free is a tremendous blessing. I will forever and always work toward this and encourage others to do the same.
But if we aren’t working to be financially savvy for the right reasons, all of our money-saving, frugal, happy budgeting ways are really for nothing.
We can, of course, decide that focusing on money is a bad thing, and therefore scrap the budget altogether. We can buy the newest and best of everything. We can rack up credit card debt so that we never have to deprive ourselves of anything we want. We can throw money at all forms of entertainment and not really be sure where our money went at the end of the day. We can fly by the seat of our pants, not really paying attention to our wallet or the bank account or the pay check. It’s just money, right?
Hey you. I think you’re awesome too, but wisdom suggests that you set up a budget and learn to stick with it. ;)
Why? What’s the point?
Whether we’re talking about spending or saving, I believe we’re called to be wise with our money so that we can be a blessing in God’s kingdom. If we’re so hung up on padding the savings account that we can’t see the needs around us – we’ve missed the point. If we’re so into stuff and splurges that we lose sight of those whose basic needs aren’t met – we’ve missed the point.
And that point is?
I believe that if we truly want to be financially free, we have to learn to let God be in control of our money. Every decision, every investment, every expense, every gift, every penny stashed away into the savings account – every line item in our budget. We are all blessed so that we can be a blessing. Your budget can help you be the blessing to others that you are called to be.
Are all of our budgets going to look the same? Will all of our spending priorities jive with everyone else who is working to be wise financially? Will we all need to start darning socks and making homemade laundry soap in order to be considered a wise steward? No, no, and I hope not. After all, you could fit the entire state of Nebraska through the holes in the socks we finally threw away last week.
Let your budget be a blessing – to your family and to those you minister to. Because that, my friends, is the point.
Want some help getting your budget on the right track? Already have a great budget, and want to dig deeper? BudgetFocus is a great resource, and I highly recommend it. Use the code HH33 to receive 33% off a 12-month plan. Can’t go wrong with a great discount like that!