Crackerjack Greenback

Personal Finance Bible Study: Contentment (Part 9 of 12) - Practical Applications

Paul Williams @ Crackerjack Greenback — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 09:00:58 +0000

Last Sunday, we continued talking about practical applications when we take on God’s View of the World, Money, and our lives. How should we act and what should we do when we take on God’s View and live out His will? We’re still continuing that discussion today.

How does God want us to deal with our lives? Paul provides us with some insight in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:

¹⁶ Be joyful always; ¹⁷ pray continually; ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)

I’ve talked about 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 before, so I won’t go into as much depth here. This passage clearly sets out God’s expectations for how we should live, regardless of our circumstances. We are to always be joyful, pray continually, and give thanks no matter what. God wants our lives focused on the Gift He has given us, becoming closer to Him, and enjoying the good things He has blessed us with. There’s no room for greed or materialism when our hearts are focused on those things. That’s God’s will for us—that we’re focused on Him instead of this world.

So we know by now we shouldn’t be focused on material things or amassing great wealth, but we still have needs while we’re living on Earth. What should we ask God for, and how much of it should we request? Agur gives us some good guidelines in Proverbs 30:8-9.

     ⁸ Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
     give me neither poverty nor riches,
     but give me only my daily bread.

     ⁹ Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
     and say, ‘Who is the LORD ‘
     Or I may become poor and steal,
     and so dishonor the name of my God.

Proverbs 30:8-9 (NIV)

Agur asks God for his daily bread—just enough. If we have too much, we become inclined to believe we did it all ourselves and begin to deny even the existence of God. It is very easy to start relying on our wealth more than we rely on God. We get too focused on our material well-being and no longer see the need for God in our lives, so we disown Him and pretend He doesn’t exist. On the other hand, if we have too little we may become inclined to steal. This would dishonor God because it is sin—against God for not trusting in Him and against our neighbors for not loving them.

This idea of our daily bread should be quite familiar to most Christians. It’s part of the Lord’s Prayer—Jesus’ example of how we ought to pray and where our hearts should be focused when we pray. Jesus wanted us to realize that this request for our daily bread is important. Asking God for just enough, being modest and content, and not letting materialism rule our lives—these are the things that allow us to honor God sincerely in our lives. It is such an important concept that Jesus included it in His example for prayer (not to mention all the time He spent telling parables and teaching about contentment and a focus on heavenly treasures).

We see two main practical applications here. First, we should be content with our circumstances because it is God’s will for our lives. If we’re focused on the gift of eternal salvation, we don’t have to be as worried about the things of this world. We’re free to be joyful always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances. Second, we should be asking God for just enough to get by each day—not for millions of dollars, or a huge house, or a BMW—just our daily bread. We bring nothing into this world, and we won’t take anything out when we leave it. This is why Paul says we should be content if we have food and clothing (1 Timothy 6:8). That’s all we really need to get by (though a warm shelter is nice as well, it’s not completely necessary). When we start worrying about getting more than that, we take our focus off of God and put it back onto the World. And that’s a sure way to keep ourselves from fully serving God.

Note: I do not mean that we should completely neglect our material needs, but it’s all about where our hearts are focused. Wherever your treasure is, that’s where your heart will be also. So if you’re consumed with thinking about material things and wealth, your heart can’t really belong to God. That’s the only true sin, because once God gets your heart He’ll get everything else with it. It’s all He really needs from us—and that’s why it’s so vitally important that we don’t give our hearts to materialism.

Personal Finance in the Bible: Contentment and Giving

Paul Williams @ Crackerjack Greenback — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 23:10:25 +0000

This is just a quick update to let you know that I have added all the verses I’ve found on Contentment and Giving in the Bible. You can find them on the Personal Finance in the Bible page. Just scroll down and click on either category to see the sub-categories. Then click on any of those to see the list of verses along with my short summary. Click the Scripture reference if you’d like to read the verse (opens in a new window).

I’ll be adding verses about Prudence next. (I might call it Wisdom instead.) So far, I found 81 Scripture references about Contentment, which contain 278 verses. I’ve found 99 Scripture references about Giving, which contain 282 verses. That brings us to 180 Scripture references containing a total of 560 verses about personal finance—and that’s only for Contentment and Giving! It’s obvious there’s a lot in the Bible about personal finance, which is why I feel strongly called to keep working on this and share it with other Christians. God must be trying to tell us to pay attention if advice and guidelines about personal finance are mentioned so much in the Bible. In fact, there’s a very good reason:

¹³ “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
¹⁴ The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. ¹⁵ He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.

Luke 16:13-15 (NIV)

Focusing on My Priorities

Paul Williams @ Crackerjack Greenback — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 09:00:28 +0000

I’ve talked before about setting and prioritizing your goals, and I’m going to use my own advice. I’ve really enjoyed working on Crackerjack Greenback these past two months, but writing a new post every single day is interfering with some of my broader goals. Maybe it’s because I’m not a great writer or don’t have a passion for writing. Maybe it’s because I’m an inefficient writer. All I know is that a post every day is taking up too much of my time right now.

So I’m going to start writing less and focusing on some of my more immediate goals. Michelle and I are busy with planning our wedding, and I want to make sure I stay focused on helping her with that. I also need to focus on my next move after being laid off. If I end up deciding to start my own business, I’ll need to put a lot of energy toward preparing for that goal. I also have some other unrelated things I need to do as well.

I’m not going to quit writing for Crackerjack Greenback though. I’m still very excited about the Personal Finance Bible Study I’ve been working on. The problem is that with all the time I’ve been spending on writing every day and learning more about marketing my website, I’ve neglected to continue the behind-the-scenes work for that Bible study. Each subject I’ll be writing about requires hours upon hours of researching the Scripture, organizing the verses I find, and then outlining the material so I can write about it logically. So my main focus for now is going to be on finishing this work because it will form a strong foundation for all of my future work in personal finance. After that, I’d like to work more on The Basics of Personal Finance.

Here are my promises to you regarding my posting schedule:

I will continue to post a Personal Finance Bible Study article every Sunday.
I will continue to expand my collection of personal finance verses.
I will post at least one other article a week. However, I may post two other articles a week if I feel especially inspired or have more time available than I expected.
I may post smaller articles pointing you to interesting personal finance reading I find online. I will still be reading a lot, so I’d like to share any good stuff I find with you.
I’ll still respond to any comments or questions you send me and do my best to help you in any way I can.

Thanks for reading Crackerjack Greenback and for your continued support. I hope you’ll understand my reasons for slowing down, and I hope this helps me provide you with higher quality posts as well. Have a great new year!

Stop Driving Through Personal Finance Fog

Paul Williams @ Crackerjack Greenback — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 09:00:35 +0000

I had to drive through some thick fog Saturday night on my way to visit some friends. I realized I hate driving in fog (especially at night). Why is it so bad? Simply because you can’t see what’s ahead of you. It’s difficult to prepare for obstacles in the road, and you can’t see the potholes until you’ve already hit them.

Trying to manage your finances without a good plan is a lot like driving in thick fog. If you don’t have a budget and track your spending, it can be very easy to spend too much money and forget about irregular expenses. If you don’t set specific goals for yourself, you have no destination. You’ll end up wherever the road happens to take you. While that can make for an exciting road trip, it’s not really the kind of thrill you want to have in your personal finances. Without a budget and clear goals, you can’t prepare very well for the obstacles ahead and you’ll often hit some big potholes that can send your finances reeling.

Want to improve your finances next year? Focus on the basics first. Set some clear and specific goals, and figure out a realistic budget you can stick to. Then track your spending using whatever method works best for you. (The next logical step would be to build up an emergency fund. It’ll make smooth driving of those potholes I mentioned earlier.)

These are not exceptionally difficult steps to take, but they do require time and commitment. Dedicate yourself to setting your financial goals, making a budget, and sticking to it. And stop driving through the fog!

Personal Finance Bible Study: Contentment (Part 8 of 12) - Practical Applications

Paul Williams @ Crackerjack Greenback — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 09:00:06 +0000

Last Sunday, we started talking about practical applications when we take on God’s View of the World, Money, and our lives. How should we act and what should we do when we take on God’s View and live out His will? We’re continuing that discussion today.

Without God’s View, we tend to worry—a lot. Even after we begin to fully follow Him, we still worry. Why do we worry? Because we haven’t begun to rely on God and trust in His goodness. But in Luke 12:22-31, Jesus tells us not to worry about worldly cares:

Do Not Worry

²² Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. ²³ Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. ²⁴ Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! ²⁵ Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? ²⁶ Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

²⁷ “Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ²⁸ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! ²⁹ And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. ³⁰ For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹ But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

Luke 12:22-31 (NIV)

This passage is also found in Matthew 6:25-34.

We can spend a lot of time worrying about the what-ifs in our life. What if I lose my job? What if I get a terminal illness? What if I can’t retire? What if I die? But do we help anything by fretting over these things that may never happen? Even if they do happen, is there anything we can do to stop them from happening? In truth, there’s little good that can come from worrying, so why do it?

Instead of worrying about all possible future disasters, we should be focused on only one thing: seeking God’s kingdom. God knows what our needs are, and He will take care of us. Once we begin to rely on God and trust in His goodness, we can allow Him to provide the things we need. But until we let God change our hearts so we can fully trust Him, we will be so preoccupied with worry that we won’t be able to seek His kingdom and see His blessings in our lives.

Does this mean we shouldn’t plan ahead for anything, or that we shouldn’t save for emergencies? Not at all. But it does mean that we shouldn’t be so worried about the cares of this life that we’re prevented from fully pursuing God’s kingdom. We should be so intently focused on serving God and serving others that our worldly needs rarely cross our minds.

Once we fully trust in God’s providence, we can begin to see that we have nothing to fear in this life. There are no worries to concern ourselves with when we’re fully resting in the Father’s arms.

       ⁵ Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
   ”Never will I leave you;
   never will I forsake you.” ⁶ So we say with confidence,
   ”The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
   What can man do to me?”

Hebrews 13:5-6 (NIV)

God has promised that He will never leave or forsake us. He is always there to help us, and He always will be. We may not always understand how He’s working in our lives, and we may not see Him when He’s by our side. But He has promised that He will always take care of us. With a promise like that from the Creator of the entire universe, what do we really have to fear? What can we possibly worry about? God is in charge, and He’s taking care of everything for us.

So how do we use this practically? Realize that once you fully submit yourself to God and His will for your life, He will take care of all your needs. Plan for what you know (like retirement and random emergencies). Take control of the things you can actually control (like your spending and attitude, not the economy or the government). And leave the rest to God. If you belong to God, what can happen to you in this life that can ruin you forever? Even death has no power, because once you die you’ll be with God for eternity. The presence of God is the only thing we need ever concern ourselves with in this life.