Materialism has become the god of our time. Warnings about the consequences of this appear throughout scripture. Clearly, no other nation in history has enjoyed such prosperity as the United States.
Yet, much of our prosperity is not prosperity at all. It is the illusion of prosperity propped up by the acquisition of all manner of "wants" acquired by use of credit. When enough of the population acquires a certain material good, that item takes on the character of need to those who aren't "keeping up with the Jones'." How many people really need an SUV?
Many Americans over utilize credit in order to acquire things they want. Often their debt load increases to the point that they need credit in order to acquire "needs," i.e. buying groceries with a credit card.
Throughout scripture, God tells us He will meet our every need. There is a good reason for this. If we depend on God for our needs, we must be in constant communication with Him. If we are in constant communication with Him, we are more likely to live according to His perfect will for us. If we live our lives in concert with His will for us, salvation is virtually assured! It is my belief that this docility with God's will for us can be developed by practicing with our use of money and material goods. If we can learn to wait on the Lord with our financial and material needs and wants, I believe we can truly experience His Divine Presence in our daily lives. In other words, the sphere of our finances is a great area of life to exercise our gift of faith, making it stronger and more useful to ourselves and those around us.
Does living according to God's perfect will for us mean we will be poor? He may have a fantastic life planned for a person without material wealth; a life full of blessings, favors, friendships and miracles. It would require a beautiful humility to live that kind of life. His will may be for us to be extremely wealthy. "To each are given different gifts." We must not covet the gifts of our neighbors. Remember, God's plan for you, whatever it is, rich or poor, is just perfect for you. Don't fight it, enjoy it!
Would you agree with this statement?:
"Living beyond your means is a pretty clear indication that you are not operating within the constraints of the gifts God has given you; you are probably at least a little bit outside His perfect will for you."
How does all this relate to budgeting and credit? When we use a credit card, we may be spending money we do not have. The credit card gives us a feeling of power and control — we don't have to take a need to the Lord, we just buy whatever we want and worry about paying for it later… or perhaps depend on God to "bail us out of the consequences" because we foolishly put ourselves in need.
I have practiced accounting for over 35 years. I have observed people who live on credit. When consumer credit becomes unmanageable, they refinance their homes, sometimes as frequently as every eighteen months! Eventually, they have to borrow cash advances in order to make their mortgage payments. Then everything becomes a need because of an enormous spending habit and resulting debt load.
Such behavior obviously puts God on the spot. He will meet our every need… but we created our need by not following His will, not waiting on Him to meet our needs and now, because we have created a financial emergency, we have created enormous needs.
Consider this alternative:
I depend on God to meet my needs. I do not spend money I do not have. I spend time with the Lord in prayer, among other things, laying out my needs as I perceive them. This practiced discipline helps me conform my life to God's will for me. When something I perceive as a need is not provided, it may be a sign that God has something better for me.
My experience shows that when this is faithfully done, miracles happen. Needed cars are found at little or no cost, affordable housing is found, scholarship money is granted….I could provide numerous examples. When you wait on the Lord, miracles happen. If you take control of the situation with a credit card, you may lose out on God's incredible plan for you. Today, money and materialism have replaced God to many in our society. I get the impression that, in these times, the Lord delights in blessing those who wait on Him for their needs. I have observed definite signs of this in my accounting practice. These miracles are as real and dumbfoundingly wonderful to me as the Oncologist who knows his or her patient has been healed of cancer by God.
How to Live in 21st Century America Depending on God for Our Needs
I believe the best way to start depending on God to meet our needs is to carve out quiet time in our day when we can open ourselves to His presence. I spend about half an hour at the beginning of the day praying — most of the time just sitting quietly, letting my mind go, giving it to God. Very often my mind wanders to material desires — generally wants. When I realize my mind is wandering, I ask the Lord to guide my thoughts. If I believe I have a need, I am sure to raise it. I try to sense what God is telling me. Sometimes He's very clear, sometimes He is silent.
When I lift up a material need and really give it to God to handle, I feel peace. However, if I become obsessed with it and cannot let it go, I know I'm in trouble! I do not believe "obsessions" come from God. Just recently, I caught myself obsessing over an item I wanted. I spent hours scouring the internet looking for just the right one at just the right price. I was almost embarrassed to bring it to God in prayer. But when I did all I felt was peace — not condemnation — just peace. I sensed God telling me that I wouldn't have to look at all; the perfect one would "drop in my lap" when it was time; I didn't have to keep searching. With that, I forgot about it. Whenever it comes to mind, I think about how great it's going to be when the perfect one at the perfect price is placed before me! Truthfully, it's just not so important to me now. At another time in life, I would probably have spent months looking then, worn out from the search, pay too much for an inferior item.
In my opinion, daily quiet time with the Lord is essential to living in concert with God's perfect will. Without that quiet time, it is impossible to sense the things He is saying to us. We need to quiet our busy minds so God can get through to us!
Spending
Like anything in life, good habits take time and practice to form and bad habits take time, practice, and will power to break. It's a really good idea to prepare and periodically revise a budget. This means you always have one! Couples should prepare the family budget together so that both spouses' spending priorities are addressed. For married couples, if both spouses put themselves in an attitude of service, the process will be much easier. Finger pointing does no good! Put God first, then your spouse, then your family. This attitude erases selfishness from the budgeting process. If, in the process, you fall off the "servant attitude wagon" stop and come back to it later after more prayer; after all, how long have you already lived without a budget?! This will be a painful process but it can lead to blessings and holiness.
The best rule of thumb I know is to tithe 10%, save 10% and spend the rest in accordance with a well thought out and prayed about budget. When you live like this, several good things seem to happen:
1) Seldom, if ever, do you experience struggle due to money. Even when you experience a need, you can be at peace. When you hand your need over to the Lord, you have confidence that He will meet the need if it is the best thing for you.
2) It is very easy to trust God to meet your needs because you are giving in accordance with His revealed Word.
3) Spending decisions are made in advance, eliminating the hand wringing, guilt-ridden thought processes that come on when we are spending money we know we don't have.
4) Best of all, you begin to practice waiting on the Lord and acknowledging your dependence on Him for your needs. Don't be afraid to let the Lord establish your standard of living!
In part 2, I will describe the budgeting process and the mechanics of developing and living on a budget, and in part 3 I will describe a foolproof way to reduce consumer debt.
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