Money and the Kingdom: To Spend as One Blessed by The Lord

Disclaimer: The financial teaching below is what I believe to be true and accurate, biblically speaking. It should not be read like a "how to be a millionaire". It's also not whatcha call prosperity gospel, that stuff isn't really gospel to my way of thinking. The real reason for this disclaimer is, as of 2022, 1. I am not a millionaire, and 2. I am not able to give as much to the Kingdom as I want to. So, what follows is not so much a way I am teaching you to live as it is a way that I intend to live. I will lay this out fairly methodically and thoughtfully for my benefit and will do so publicly for your benefit. (Hopefully! :D) Check back in 2042 and we shall see how this went. :)

With this thing I speak of, several positive things happen, here are a few of them: 

1. Your time is valued by people in your life. 

2. You contribute to your community in a positive manner.

3. You have a place, a sense of belonging. 

4. Your mind is occupied and not idle.

5. Your skills and abilities are continually honed, refined, and improved in other ways. 

6. All your needs and some of your wants are met. 

So, this thing I speak of is your money maker. Perhaps it's a current job or management position. Perhaps it's the result of a job, ie, a passive investment that pays you. Regardless, those things listed are benefits from the money maker. There are a lot of struggles around the idea of purpose, and fulfillment in the workplace, and that's what this whole series of Money and the Kingdom is all about. As a refresher, this series is for Kingdom disciples who are willing to wrap their arms and hearts around 2 fundamental realities. 1. Whatever you are doing for profit is ministry. 2. God is providing for your needs, NOT you.

Consider for a little bit, a healthy family, and the meal table. The father goes out and grabs provision. The mother takes some of that provision and converts it into a delicious meal. Then the younger children do their job. What's their job? To come to the table, to lift their spoon, and partake of the delicious meal, lovingly prepared by their parents. (This is not to say that  the husband can never prepare a meal, and the wife can never get provision, but in light of the current political climate about gender roles, I wrote that illustration very traditionally for a reason.) God, is your father, and He is also complete in His ability to parent you, after all, men and women are both made in the image of God. So it is that He takes the complete parental role in your life for you. He has prepared for you, the adult, a meal table for your life. He has equipped you with a unique gift that you can take to the marketplace and get paid for. He has provided you with a culture to use it in. On 1 side claim and truly believe that God actually is providing for you just like Jesus said He does. (Matthew 6:25-31) On the other side, go out and do stuff, working with your hands, feet, and brain in the ways God gifted you. When you have both fundamental realities coexisting at the core of your belief system, you are the child of God, who is willing to go to the table, and pick up his spoon and eat from God's abundant provision. 

Getting practical:

Ask God for your percentage, and use that, but what follows is an example of the practical application for this spending allocation, and I am going to use a number for the sake of convenience. Keep in mind, that 100% of funds need to be split in 3 directions. Giving, Spending, and Saving. I have it like this: Giving 20% Spending 40% Saving 40% However, for you, practically applied, it might work better to do like this: Giving 15% Spending 50% Saving 35% I hope it makes sense that this is about the principle of intentionally turning God's provision table for your life into a ministry by giving each dollar a place to go rather than wondering where it went, and not about hard fast numbers. 

In part 2 we allocated a 5th or 20% of this abundant provision from God's table for us and gave it to God for Him to use to supply the tables of other people with both their wants and needs. Now, we want to allocate 40% to spend on monthly expenses. The groceries, the utilities, the clothes, and the wants. Let's see if we can establish a budget, and slow our monthly spending rate down to a point where we can live on 40% of our pay for the smaller monthly things that we end up buying. If you do it all intentionally, there is a decent chance you will be able to buy all the things you used to buy. Controlling the spending in this way merely paces it, so you don't buy it all as fast. 

 What about the big things that have to be gotten that just don't fit in the budget? Well, that's what the savings are for. So, what are big things that don't fit in the monthly budget? Anything that costs more than about half of the budget amount, or something that needs to be gotten right now even though the budget is already used up. So, big things, and emergencies should be purchased with careful thought and prayer from the 3rd portion of your God-given provision. We will look at that more closely next time.