Dwight Fletcher | Kingdom principles for money matters

Christ is the only true source of contentment; any other version of contentment is sure to come up short. This is a big statement that might be hard for us to wrap our heads around. But there is no better place for us to continue our conversation on how to advance financially than by standing on that truth. We must recognize that Jesus is the true source of all we need, and by trying to find satisfaction in anything else we will continually long for more and more.

In fact, if you review your spending habits, you might find that much of what you buy reveals where you’re trying (and failing) to find contentment. That’s why this is our second step to financial freedom. To improve our money matters, we must:

2. REVIEW OUR SPENDING HABITS

If you want to be resilient and improve your financial situation you must know where your money is going. You can’t rationalize what is happening with your money. You must know where all of your money goes – and I mean all of it. You must track your money. Try this for one month: get a notebook and keep a log of every dollar that you spend. Don’t rationalize and say, “Well, that was only lunch with a friend or it was a big sale, and I only spent a few dollars or it’s only a cup of coffee, I ought to be able to enjoy a cup of coffee!”

Instead, keep track of it for an entire month and see where your money is really going. You might be surprised at what you find. For example, suppose you buy coffee every weekday. If it costs $400, that would be $2000 per week and for simplicity $8000 per month. If you were to forgo that coffee and save that money for 30 years, at 5% compound interest, then in 30 years, you would have $6,658,069.

Every dollar that leaves your hand is important. Every mickle makes a muckle. You have to know where your money goes, or you’ll always wonder where it went.

Proverbs 21:5 says, “The plans of the diligent leads to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” Plans will lead to profit. For a workable plan, you will have to be deliberate and write it down. Consider how much you make and then use that to determine how much you are able to spend. This leads us to step 3.

3. PREPARE A WORKABLE PLAN

This starts with an honest look at what you’re doing right now. For some of us it will be a shocker just how much we spend on non-essential things. Studies show that every month a large portion of the population spend more than they earn. This is becoming a world-wide phenomenon, but it’s not a Kingdom Principle. This is untenable. You cannot continue in this way. The Bible says, “A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.” (Proverbs 22:3 NLT). Prudence means trimming. Prudence means learning to live within your means. So, we have to make a workable budget and live within that budget.

Yes, it will mean saying no to more plans, but when we remember that our satisfaction is not found in trips, new things, food or anything else that money can buy, it will be easier to stay within the budget. Now, I know that there are times we have emergencies or debt that we have to address. So, join me next week as we discuss how to tackle debt and be more prepared for emergencies.