Money Matters

The next Financial Peace course is starting at church tonight. This will be my third time through and once again I get to help lead a discussion group with Stephanie. It sounds like a lot of people are signed up this time, so the class should be bigger than before. I am excited to see how the class affects others as I have been blessed in applying these practical principles in my own life.

We've just recently compeleted a short "Money Crunch" series at church and Financial Peace is starting again, it's not a bad time to take a look at how we are doing with our money. I've found it boils down to two questions.

1. Where is my heart in relationship to how to use my money? Am I desiring to use my money in a way that honors God and recognizes that everything I have belongs to him?

2. I want to use my money in a way that glorifies God and be a wise steward. What does it look like practically in everyday life to use my money well?

Randy Alcorn's "The Treasure Principle" has been helpful in evaluating my own heart in regards to the first question. I know my heart can easily drift into believing that my money is mine to do whatever I want with and that I deserve it because I worked for it. I need to be reminded that all of it is a gift from God and I will be held accountable for how I use it. I'm glad that we are including this book into our Financial Peace course to examine not only our habits, but our hearts as well. I'm hoping to get to read Alcorn's "Money, Possessions and Eternity" sometime to dig deeper into this area.

The Financial Peace course really comes into play with the second question. The information provided by Dave Ramsey helps with budgeting, smart shopping and saving well. It helps me to make the most of what God has entrusted me with and protects me from spending more than I make. Also, having knowledge about where my money is helps to relieve financial stress and frees me to spend and give since I don't have to worry that I am accidently spending my rent money. I'm always refining what I'm doing, but I can see definite improvement since I started the course.

Take some time to evaluate how you use your money reflects your view of God. And take time to look into some practical financial advice, like Dave Ramsey's book "Financial Peace", to see if there are ways you can be using your money more wisely.