Spending Ourselves To Death

by Andrew Cromwell

According to one report, 85 out of 100 Americans have less than $250 in savings when they reach 65. If this is true, then most of us are either (a) planning on living on far less than we currently do, or (b) denying reality and sticking our head in the sand. Combine this fact with our habit of spending just a little bit more than we earn and any chance of a comfortable retirement goes right out the window.

Saving your money instead of spending it goes against the grain. Not only is everyone around us doing it, the media reports to us that if everyone were to stop spending so much and start saving their money, the economy would simply crash even further. We know in our heart that we need to be saving for a rainy day, but somehow we are never able to get around to it.

Money is a big deal. So big, in fact, that Jesus talked about it a lot. Half of the stories he told were about money. One out of every six verses in the gospels is about money. He talked more about money than heaven, hell or prayer. He obviously considered our relationship with our money to have big time spiritual implications. He said, “where your treasure is, there will your heart be.”

I believe there are three important things that we must do if we are going to run our finances instead of having our finances run us.

First, we must look ahead. Proverbs 14:8 says, “The wise man looks ahead. The fool...won’t face facts.” Where are our current money practices taking us? Am I paying only the minimum on my credit card? Am I spending all that I earn? Am I buying things I don’t need? These foolish money behaviors not only steal from my own financial future, they also demonstrate that I am a person that God cannot trust to manage His money!

Second, we must make a plan. Proverbs 16:9 says, “We should make plans--counting on God to direct us.” You spell plan, B-U-D-G-E-T. Most of us don’t have a real budget. We have an idea of where our money goes, but we don’t really know. We need to sit down and crunch the numbers. When it comes to money, you need to know four things: what you own, what you owe, what you earn and where it goes!

Finally, we must act quickly. When it comes right down to it, without action we can look ahead and make plans all day long and nothing will change. It is not enough to agree that it is good to systematically save for retirement. It is not even good enough to write down a budget. Unless we actually do it, then it doesn’t matter one bit. We need to stop telling ourselves we’ll do it tomorrow and start today.

Maybe this is all overwhelming to you. I know that when I look at the big picture of my finances, I begin to feel stressed and even a little panicked. Then I remind myself that Rome wasn’t built in a day and my finances won’t be fixed in an hour. Small decisions that are followed through on, result in big changes. So maybe you cancel your cable or eat out half as much — we all can do some small things that will end up making a huge impact on our bottom line.

The pastors in Kings County want to see you experiencing God’s freedom in your finances. Why don’t you give them the opportunity to encourage you this weekend?