FirstFruits Findings Jan. - Feb. 2004 FIRSTFRUITS FINDINGS Vol. 9 No. 1 A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR What does it mean to me to live within my means? Over the years, this has changed with my wife and me. When we were first married, we made a decision to tithe, giving 10% of our income. This helped us to look at how much we could spend on other areas of need. This can best be done with a written budget that is updated regularly. Living within our means meant that we could not commit to buying more than our monthly payments would allow, including savings. This was a great way to start. Then things happened...kids, raises, expanding interests. What happened next, happens to most couples. We began to live the lifestyle similar to our friends and acquaintances. The problem was, however, that this made it difficult for us to live within our means. Living within our means happens when we fully understand that God owns it all and that God is as concerned about what I/we spend as He is about what we give. Authors like Randy Alcorn have made a great impression on us. How we spend God's money has eternal consequences. We try to minimize our spending so that we can be more generous in our giving. All of us need to make spending decisions both prayerfully and thoughtfully, and have discussions with our spouse and maybe with trusted friends about lifestyle issues. God will help us to use these actions to live within our means. ~ Norm Vander Wel 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE STEWARDS This is the fifth in a series of seven in which we will reflect on the habits of a highly effective steward: Habit 1 - Be Thankful with an attitude of gratitude. Habit 2 - Trust God to provide for our needs. Habit 3 - Be Content in God's provision. Habit 4 - Be a Faithful Example to our children. Habit 5: Live Within Your Means What do you think when you read, "Live within your means?" Do you think, "Who me?"...yet often you find yourself wishing you had more money? Perhaps you have too much "month" at the end of the "money" because of a lifestyle you've created that is hard to maintain. Many times this may happen when we try to keep up with others and don't live within our means. Discontent and financial difficulty can happen when we compare ourselves to those who have more. Some use comparison to justify spending more than they should..."keeping up with the Joneses". As Howard Dayton said in his book, Dollars and Sense, "someone once said that you can never keep up with the Joneses. Just about the time you catch them, they refinance their home and go deeper in debt to buy more things!" We certainly live in a society of acquisition. Advertising is geared to encourage us to desire a better lifestyle and to aspire to a higher standard of living. According to society, we should acquire as many expensive possessions as possible because these things are evidence of a successful, important person. When we want to live this counterfeit, media-induced dream but cannot afford it, we suffer discontentment, envy and coveting. And, most importantly, it prevents us from giving freely and sacrificially back to God. As God's stewards, our fundamental lifestyle choice is to concentrate on what we have instead of what we lack. Debt is a terrible trap in which to fall and an even harder one to escape. It's not surprising that the Bible discourages borrowing. In Prov. 22:7 we read, "...the borrower is servant to the lender". Yet, despite these warnings, it's easy to fall into the temptation of debt. As George Fooshee, author of You Can Beat the Money Squeeze aptly states, "People buy things they do not need with money they do not have to impress people they do not even like." Scripture contains a number of challenging principles that we should consider when choosing a lifestyle. As Paul indicates: "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." Phil. 4:12-13 Income alone should never determine our lifestyle, even if we have plenty of money to live the way we wish. The choices we make will depend not only on how much we make and what needs our family has, but also on the way we view the world and our responsibility as God's stewards. God's ownership, the gifts God has given us, the opportunities we have to develop our gifts are crucial in helping us to decide how to live. When we as Christian stewards choose a lifestyle, we must come to terms with some basic questions: (Firstfruits: Managing the Master's Money by Lillian Grissen) - How many luxuries can we enjoy without endangering our spiritual health? - How many wants can we indulge in when there are so many in need? - In a world of limited resources, how many resources may we expend simply for personal pleasure? Possessions require time, attention and often money to maintain and can then take away from our relationship with God and others because of the time and energy they consume. We need to prayerfully consider our lifestyle and spending habits and how that affects our stewardship responsibility. Is our lifestyle enhancing or sacrificing our giving? ? PUTTING GOD FIRST IN YOUR BUDGET Charles Swindoll, in one of his many poignant meditations, shares a humorous list of requirements for trusting or mistrusting a dentist. It begins with the heading, "Never Trust a Dentist Who": 1. Who wears dentures 2. Whose drill is driven by a system of pulleys connected to three mice on a treadmill. 3. Who sends you a Christmas card and charges you for it. 4. Who sprays his equipment with Lysol to sterilize it. We laugh at the list, but the image of going to a new dentist for the first time is a helpful measure of our ability to trust. We live in an age of suspicion and caution when it comes to placing our confidence in anyone who promises to solve our daily problems. And it has infected our faith, at least that part of our faith which has to do with trusting in the promises of God. God gives us all we have, and we can trust Him to provide for our needs. Deciding to participate fully in sacrificial giving - giving a really significant portion of our income - requires a deep faith, trusting that what is left over for our own use will be enough for our needs and the needs of our loved ones as well. Those who make the decision to put God first in their budgets find their faith deepened and, far from being impoverished, they find themselves enriched, both spiritually and materially.???Used by permission Parish Publishing , New Canaan, CT. Recommended Resource "Three Simple Rules" By Theo A. Boers Written from his experience of counseling hundreds of families through a financial counseling ministry he set up at his church, Boers spells out three simple rules anyone can use to avoid the negative consequences of easy credit and increasing debt. By using a sample case study, readers are taken through important steps such as doing a financial physical and then developing a Personal Cash Flow. This easy-to-follow book will get you to work on getting out of your financial 'black hole' and on the road to good stewardship. Check out www.ThreeRules.org for ordering information. TIPS TO TRY Clever cost-cutting ideas to use at home Fix it, don't ditch it. When a small appliance goes kaput -say, a coffee grinder loses its bite or a blender starts to leak-look for a replacement part at www.culinaryparts.com before you buy a whole new gadget. If hangers don't glide along the clothes rod, rub it with waxed paper or a candle. Save and use your fabric-softener sheets to shine shoes to a high gloss. Clean stubborn hard-water deposits off glassware or vases by putting in one or two denture-cleaning tablets and fill with water. Wait a few hours and rinse clean. Reprinted with permission of cheapskatemonthly.com