Finances

A lot!

When you have money, you have power, and power is an important theme in any person’s spiritual journey. For example, physical power gives you the ability to use your body for loving things or for bad things. You can use the power in your body to give hugs or to deliver violence. The quality of your spiritual life will have a lot to say in how you use physical power.

Money is a different kind of power that can be used in any of the following ways to express power:

• Money, for example, gives you the power to influence companies. The more you spend on a product, the more you send a powerful message that this product has value and the company should keep making it.
• You can donate money to a political campaign and influence political power.
• You can donate to a charity and influence how your community is developed. Charities are set up to give people an opportunity to add their money to the money of other people so that together they have more power to influence positive changes in the community, nation, or world.
• Also, you can hoard money and prevent others from getting their fair share. There are lots of ways that money gives you power.

So, managing our money is an expression of what we value and care about. I recall hearing a pastor say once that the church budget is an expression of the church’s spiritual priorities. We spend our money on the things that matter to us.

Paying attention to your budget can give you a sense of how you are responding to the call to use power wisely. Budgeting is an excellent tool to help you discern the call to use power in loving ways.

Simple Annual Budget Demonstration:

Questions to ponder:

• What are your budgeting goals?
  • How soon do you want to be out of debt?
  • At what age do you want to retire?
  • How much do you want to save?
  • How do you want to use your money to influence positive change in your community?
• After you created your budget, what did it tell you about how you spend money?
• What does your budget tell you about your priorities?
• How would you change your spending habits to be more consistent with what is most important to you?
• If you are spending more than you make, what are you called to change to balance your budget?