When God gives us a vision for the future, it requires us to take an inventory of our lives and make the necessary adjustments to align ourselves with His will. In addition to building our spiritual lives and developing a strong foundation, we also need to build the practical aspects of our lives according to His principles. One of those areas is our money.
Money
Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, and attend to your herds; Proverbs 27:23
One of the important areas that we need to consider is our finances. While money does not bring happiness, its lack can produce much stress and anxiety. According to Dave Ramsey’s website, finances are the second leading cause of divorce.
In the Biblical era, people’s flocks were their source of income and investments, so the wellbeing of the flocks was crucial to people’s livelihoods. In our case, it is the money we receive as income, which we need to be diligent with. We need to know where our money is going and to build our financial house on God’s principles.
Since everything we own belongs to the Lord, tithing is the first step in building our financial house properly. If you are part of a local church (I shared about its importance in the last devotional), then your tithing goes to where you are shepherded.
Tithing is an act of worship. Jesus told His disciples that they cannot serve two masters (See Luke 16:9-13). Tithing reminds us that the Lord is the source of our provision and keeps us from making idols. When we tithe, we declare that our trust is in His grace and mercies to earn an income, and it also opens the door for the Lord to heal our finances.
Living within our means and getting out of debt should be part of our financial priorities. When finances are tight, people get stressed and lose their peace. They begin to live in survival mode, and their thoughts become fully focused on getting out of their bad situation.
People tend to think they have lack of income, but many have spending problem. If a person has never had a budget, they have no idea where their money is going. When the finances get tight, some decide to get a second job to pay off debts or make up for the shortage, but in reality, they may create more problems than solving any of them. One problem is that you begin to depend on the extra money and have to continue working extra hours to keep the lifestyle. Another problem is that now you don’t have enough time with family and friends, which can cause relational and communication problems thereby starting a vicious cycle of discontentment, spending, and strife. It is interesting that people are willing to work longer hours to earn more money, but they are not willing to do the work of tracking their finances and putting a budget together.
Steady plodding brings prosperity; hasty speculation brings poverty. Proverbs 21:5 (TLB)
If we are hasty with our spending and investing, we are on a financial roller coaster with no stability and security. On the other hand, if we are steady and diligent with our finances, they will surely get better over time, and we will see an increase.
As we do these things, God will bless our finances and He will heal them. We will be in a better position to live a calmer life and to be more in tune with God’s priorities. We will also escape the survival mode and allow God to lead us to save, give, invest, and spend the money in the right places and for the right reasons. We begin to develop the desire to be a blessing to others and help fund the work of the Kingdom through various ministries.
Image by Nattanan Kanchanaprat from Pixabay