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Personal Budgeting from a Biblical Perspective
There are many websites and places you can go to learn personal budgeting practices and if you follow their advice you will get out of debt. So let me summarize for you the secret to getting out of debt and staying out of debt. Spend less than you earn and save the rest. You might be thinking that is easier said than done. And I would say that it depends on where your heart is. Let me give you an example. On most school days it is hard to get my kids up and ready for school by 8:00 am. However, on Christmas morning my kids are up before 6:00 am, chomping at the bit, waiting for the permitted time to wake mom & dad. It is easy to see where their heart is. So in reality, overspending is not as much a behavior issue as it is a heart issue.
The Tools Are Here
Helping you get your heart in the right place so that you will be successful in your personal budgeting is primarily what this website is about. There are tools, worksheets, calculators and instruction to help you with the mechanics of setting up a personal budget or a family budget that will work for you. Still, those things are not enough to sustain your efforts if your heart is not in it, kind of like dieting.
Build Your Faith
If you believe the Bible is the word of God and true from beginning to end, then this site will help build your faith and help you put your faith into action every day. Even if you don’t believe the Bible is the word of God, you will still find the tools you need to help you with your personal budgeting and help you get your finances on track.
Where to start
Here is the foundation for everything that follows: God owns everything. 1 Chronicles 29:11-12 states, “Everything in the heavens and earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as being in control of everything. Riches and honor come from you alone, and you are the Ruler of all mankind; your
hand controls power and might, and it is at your discretion that men are made great and given strength” (TLB). That is a pivotal verse because it brings together three important concepts.
God Owns Everything
The first point is that God owns everything. 1 Chronicles 29:11 starts out, “Everything in the heavens and earth is yours O Lord”. Nothing exists that doesn’t belong to the Lord. Everything is included! God owns your house. God owns your car. Everything in your possession God owns. God even owns you and me.
God is in Control
The second point is that God is in control of everything that is happening to you right now. If we go back to our verse it says, “We adore you as being in control of everything”. There is no situation that He is not in control of. He is bigger than all of the bad things that happen in your life.
What You have Comes from God
The third point is that all riches come from God. After telling us that God is in control of everything, our verse goes on to list some of the things over which God is in control (who could list them all?). The first thing in the list is wealth, “Riches and honor come from you alone”. All that you have comes from God.
Why Has God Been So Generous?
When we couple 1 Chronicles 29:11-12 with Colossians 1:16 which says, “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.” (NIV), we begin to understand God's generosity. God has invited you to cooperate with Him in accomplishing His goals. You have what you have at God’s pleasure and not your own, in order to accomplish God’s purposes and not your own. Our personal budgeting and family budgeting ought to reflect God's purposes.
The Foundation
So, if God owns all that I have, including me, and he is in control of every situation that I find myself in, then it begs the question, “What is my role”? The answer is I am a steward, or caretaker, of everything in my possession. This then becomes the foundation from which budgeting begins. Every dollar I spend becomes a spiritual matter. Every spending decision I make is either a decision to accomplish God’s purposes or not. It was Jesus who said in Luke 13:34, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (NIV) Therefore, personal budgeting really is a matter of the heart.
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