I write this post as much to myself as to you: I fully realize how money will persistently and insidiously seek to capture a bigger and bigger portion of my heart and my life. I also know this: drifting through life doesn’t work because I seldom drift closer to God.
Perhaps this is why Jesus declared these two loves to be polar opposites, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
I am convinced that we need to be very intentional about keeping God first and money last. These nine tips will help:
1. Have a regular prayer time.
I am not talking about praying over a meal or even talking to God as you drive to work. These prayers are fine, but loving God means committing your time to Him. Set aside some time every day just for Him. He would love for you to do so.
2. Serve others.
The second greatest commandment (after loving God) is to love others. Do you serve your family? Do you serve your co-workers (even your subordinates)? Do you check on the widow who lives down the street? Do you volunteer to mentor a single parent child?
Notice that I haven’t said a word about money so far. Why? Because the best way to NOT love money is to proactively love God. As Jesus said, we can’t love both.
Now: some money tips that will help us love God:
3. Be a giver.
Why do I emphasize giving? Because doing so is the antidote for loving money.
God is the ultimate giver (He gave his only son). The more we develop a giver’s heart, the more we become like God and demonstrate our love for him.
4. Plan to increase your giving for the rest of your life.
This isn’t about tithing, nor is it about legalism; it is about systematically ensuring that we never become complacent. Some of you struggle to give anything at all while others are stuck at 10%. Why not set a goal of giving a greater percentage annually for the rest of your life? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to give 30% or 50% or 70%? After all, this is about loving God; this is radical and this is about NOT being like everyone else.
5. Plan to give spontaneously
Budget a set amount to keep on hand to be able to bless others as needs arise. Jan and I keep a “Bless envelope” on hand packed with cash earmarked to give. This is a fun, grass roots, way to keep our giving real.
6. Down size your house
This isn’t, of course, for everyone, but it is a valid consideration if you are hanging onto that five bedroom house after all of your children have moved out. If you decide to keep that house, consider letting a college student or a single parent live with you rent free. I realize “no one” does such things, but that is the point.
7. Accountability partners
Do you know others who are striving to radically love Jesus? Meet with them regularly to encourage each other, share ideas and give testimonies of ways that have worked. Nothing motivates more than hearing from someone else who has actually done what you are considering.
8. Automate your finances
Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “lead us not into temptation.” Keeping money easily accessible is, for some, a temptation. We keep a small buffer balance in our regular checking account, then have every dollar above that buffer amount transferred monthly to a less accessible account.
9. Set a maximum limit for how much you keep. Give the rest away.
Change your thinking from how much you give to how much you will keep. This is not a vow of poverty nor should it be a time for imprudence. But, unless you set a cap, you will drift to higher and higher standards of living without realizing it. Is this not what everyone around you does? Be radical, set that cap, and you will start viewing those pay raises as opportunities to give more. Again, a plan to love God instead of money.
I hope these few thoughts will motivate you to love money less and love God more.
What other ideas do you have?
Very encouraging article Joe and your list of antidotes always leaves room for improvement and moving forward. One item that has helped me is to move toward dealing with financial things only on a monthly or even better an annual basis. The reason this helps is that I try to just allow myself only one day a month to even pray, plan, think, or deal with it. Yes, I have to spend in the meantime but using an envelope system I don’t have to ask where is the money coming from, how much, or balance a checkbook for each transaction. It seems money issues can confront us in two major ways – loving to spend and worry. Trying to limit either to only once a month frees our mind for other things.
Carol–I hadn’t considered being intentional about limiting the number of days a month or even a year to deal with financial issues. I, like you, let my envelope system pretty much keep me on auto-pilot, so I certainly don’t obsess over my finances. I recently updated my budget for the first time in quite a while because my wife and I want to get focused about saving for a kitchen make-over.
About freeing our minds for other things than financial issues, being out of debt certainly keeps the worry factor to a minimum.
I’m not sure I can come up with “other ideas”; you pretty much hit the nail on the head. My fave principle is giving, though; it’s hard to make money your idol if you are a generous giver.
Emily–great point. People don’t give away the very thing they idolize.
This is great ideas and comments. I just hope I am able to freely give like this some day. The more I try the more the opportunity slips away from me. Something is always taking money away from me and keeps me from giving it away. I truely have a givers heart but feel like I have nothing to give (money) and I feel bad because so much is always given to me. Im always giving my time, gifts and talents but financial resources are important to isn’t it?
Joe,
When I read the email from Bob I thought this was going to be another awesome article from ChristianPF.com. Little did I know it’s going to be an awesome article from someone I have never heard about… So when I landed I just had to pop over to your About page first – incredibly inspiring story!
I made up my mind some time ago that anyone who lives according to and teaches the same principles as Dave Ramsey is someone I will not take up lightly. I can see you are going to be one of those guys that I will learn to respect over time to come.
I made the decision very early this year as my new year’s resolution to transform from being an “eater” into my heart’s desire to become the ultimate giver. I am proud to say that this is the first resolution I know of that hasn’t ended by the end of February.
I haven’t honored God in the past with my finances. I believe this is also the reason why my current income is nothing to write home about. I wish I could give you my whole story right here but we might just be reading here for a couple of hours. In short, I quit a highly-respected System Admin job at the end of August 2011 and I “chased” setting up my own business ever since, web development and hosting is what I started off with. Chasing the freedom and getting out of the rat race became my primary focus where it should have been God. This year I decided to change that…
I still think I have what it takes to be a business owner and won’t go working at a regular job again if it’s up to me to decide. However, since starting to honor God with my earnings, FIRST and before I do anything else, I have first-hand experience of favor and blessing He poured all over me I never imagined possible. I started getting web development projects from people approaching me, in fact I have just submitted a tender to the biggest development project I have ever had the opportunity to be part of and the best part is I didn’t go out and look for it – it was sent to me straight from God without a doubt.
Thanks again for this article – it reminded me again of my “why?” and inspired me to keep on pressing on…
Be blessed!
-Ruan
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