With tuition on the rise 95% from a decade ago and the average college student carrying approximately $3,000 of credit card debt in their wallets, there is definitely a need for practical insight on money management. Many students struggle with making the decision between postponing graduate school because they don’t want to rack up anymore debt or heading straight from their undergraduate studies because they fear they won’t be able to make a sufficient living off any job attained with a Bachelor’s degree. Luckily for these panicking undergrads (and graduates, parents, siblings and significant others), Senior Pastor Jim White leads us into 2011 with a series that addresses any insecurities and uncertainties about our financial future with tips straight from the Bible for saving money and staying out of debt.
The first week of this series lent itself to understanding how we can receive God’s blessings by allowing Him full reign into our lives. We need to understand that God wants to bless us, and then we need to get out of the way and let Him do that.
Pastor White reveals three steps we can use to let God into our financial lives:
- Manage our money like it is His
- Give back what is His
- Let go of our money like we are His
The most fundamental of these is the first: to manage our money like it is the Lord’s. Before we reach any other step, we first need to acknowledge God as the creator and owner of everything, including our money. In doing that, all else will fall into place. Our money is a gift from God, and we are just stewards, managers if you will. Once we realize that the finances we claim ownership to actually belong to Him, we will be able to fully give them over and let God work His blessings in our lives.
One of the reasons it is difficult to acknowledge God as the creator of EVERYthing is because we often pick and choose what we want to follow in the Bible. This is also a major reason Christianity is viewed as one of the most hypocritical religions. We profess one thing, yet act in the opposite way. We believe in grace when it pertains to our mistakes, but we treat others with malice and judgment when they fall short of our expectations. Instead of picking and choosing, we need to follow Christ by accepting all the Bible has to say and adjusting our lives accordingly.
This past weekend, Pastor White communicated what the Bible says about saving. We have tons of payments to make each month: medical bills, rent, utilities, car notes. But there are two important payments we often push to the backburner: our payment to God and our payment to ourselves. We pay God by tithing to the local church of which we are a part, and then we pay ourselves. How do we do that? We save. And as Pastor White taught us, even those of us who claim we can’t even find loose change between our couch cushions can save. And we should start the second we finish reading this blog.
As college students we barely have enough to get by as it is; how in the world can we be expected to save money? The trick is to stop looking for extra money to save. Instead, we should look for money we already have, but are spending it on meaningless items. Instead of seeing the newest Will Ferrell comedy Friday night when it comes out in theaters, wait a couple of days and catch it during the week when tickets are half-priced. Enjoy college night? Save on your tab (and a bit of your soul) by acting as the designated driver during 1-2-3 night at the bar. Have a friend dye your hair and put those suede boots back on the shelf. If we save just $10 a week -- $40 a month -- that’s $480 a year, leading to nearly $2000 collecting interest in your bank account by the end of your undergraduate career. Talk about a blessing.
Proverbs 13:11 (NIV) reads, “Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.” Translation: it may not seem like saving $10 a week is really going to make difference, especially when others seem to have boatloads of money to spend on whatever they want. But as with all things worth having, if we are diligent in saving as the Bible instructs us, the pay off will be greater than we could ever anticipate. Just don’t blame us for blue highlights.
No comments:
Post a Comment