Friday, June 1

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Proverbs 6:6-11

Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!

It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores is provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

How long will you lie there, you sluggard?

When will you get up from your sleep?

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest – and poverty will come upon

you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.

For the first five years or so of our marriage I managed our checkbook. I deposited our paychecks, paid the bills every month, and kept track of the balance in our account. I kept track of that balance the same way I did when I was a single guy – I just estimated. That is, when I recorded the checks I wrote I just rounded off every entry to the nearest dollar. I figured that made it easier to do the math and that, in the long run, it would all come out even. 

Well, one day my wife had some reason to check our monthly bank statement. When she asked me if I kept the statements somewhere – I showed her a box of five years of bank statements – all unopened. She proceeded to go through all five years of statements to check them against my rounded-off checkbook registry. She discovered that we had $700 more in our account than we knew about because of interest accrued over the years!

I told her, “See! My system works!”

I no longer keep our checkbook.

The truth is that even in my ineptitude we discovered something about how wealth grows over time through wise investment!

Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!

It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores is provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

How long will you lie there, you sluggard?

When will you get up from your sleep?

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest – and poverty will come upon

you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.

So how do we do it? What’s the blue print for financial success and peace? 

Many financial planners point to something like the 10-10-80 rule of thumb. That is, establishing the spiritual and financial disciplines of giving 10%, saving 10%, and living on 80% of your annual income. You can raise the percentage of your wealth that you give and still experience peace and joy in your life; you can raise the percentage of your income that you save or invest and still experience peace and joy; but you cannot raise the percentage of your income that you spend and continue to experience that same peace and joy.

A few years ago I saw a study that claimed that the average American family lived on 105% of their income. At first this statistic made no sense to me – how can anyone live on more than they earn? But the explanation, of course, is “credit.” Our affluent and consumer driven culture pushes us to leverage our lifestyles with debt. The mantra we hear over and over again is “buy now, pay later!” And unfortunately this mantra is more true than most of us realize! When we live on 105% of our income; or 100% of our income; or even 90% of our income, we simply cannot experience the blessing God wants to give us through our wealth. 

But when we understand and apply the principles of God’s word; when we honor God with our wealth; when we give first; when we save and invest wisely; when we discipline ourselves to live well within our means – then we begin to experience both the blessing of financial peace and the blessing that comes with generosity.

And generosity lies at the heart of everything good God wants to do in us and in his kingdom!

Pastor Brian Coffey