Which budget management plan best describes your approach
to saving, spending and gifting? I have heard others reference their household
budget as if it were cash in buckets; Dave Ramsey describes the envelope system,
and many others track expenses using programs like Quicken.
The tool or management style you use is less important
than the perspective you have of the overall picture of earning and spending. Consider
what happens to your budget when a significant change to your earnings takes
place.
Whether it is a recession, a pay cut, the loss of a job,
or increased expenses for childcare or tuition, how you consider the next step
in a time of budget change speaks volumes about your understanding of the
resources you have, where they come from, and to whom those resources belong.
In times of reduced income, we like to rationalize away our
guilt for cancelled giving. We use explanations like: “I'm giving my time to
church, they don't need my money and time,”
or “I’m paying tuition now, that's my gift to X Christian School or Y College.”
We might even “spiritualize” our new situation by turning
it over to God through the convenient belief that “When God blesses me
again with a return to previous income levels, I'll start giving again” or, “If this is my new situation in life, then God understands that I can't
give to charity anymore.
I've done this dance as well, so I speak from a point of
confession. Separating purchases from charity can get a bit cloudy at times. Paying
tuition to a nonprofit can feel like giving to charity, especially when we have
to sacrifice other purchases to cover the cost. We join the leadership of our church and
consider all the time it takes from family as a sacrifice; therefore we assume our
gift is our time.
But God's abundance and resources to me, no matter the
amount, do not come with this caveat from Him: “Only when I bless you with
enough do you get to enjoy the blessings of giving from the first fruits of my
gifts.”
So let's recommit to not holding back. Let's give from
the best, not the lefts. Do we really have buckets of separation? Isn't it all
God's to begin with? It is not the amount that matters—think of the widow's mite—but
the obedience, worship and sacrifice that honor God. God's love for you is not
directly correlated with your income. Your love for God motivates your worship,
obedience and giving.
