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Abundance Through Stewardship MP3
Besides being a book about Salvation, the Bible is a book about prosperity and abundance in this life as well as the next:
However, some find it difficult just to make ends meet and are heavily into debt. Others would like to have more disposable income and be able to help the Work and/or provide for their local churches.
Financial abundance is possible through something the Bible calls “stewardship.” What is stewardship? How can I be a better steward? What is required? What financial steps may I take to produce more disposable income and to get out of debt?
This article will answer these questions and help all of us become better stewards of what God gives to us. We are not necessarily talking about getting a higher paying job or taking on a second job. We will discuss procedures that will free up money from your present budget or income. Let us begin with the meaning of the word, “stewardship.”
DefinitionI first consulted my desktop dictionary and found a steward is one who manages another's property, finances, or other affairs. My Bible dictionary gives the meaning from the Greek word “oikonomia” (3622) and means the administration of a household or estate and specifically, a (religious) economy. This is interesting when we realize that everything in the world belongs to God, including your job, your home, your land, your possessions and all of your income. We are each stewards of what He has given us. It is a living test of our character. Luke 16:10 states that he who is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. Before we get into the specifics of conducting this stewardship, we must look at the underlying attitude we must have according to scripture.
AttitudeIn Mark 10 and verse 17-22, we read of the account of a rich man who comes running after Jesus and asking Him what he must do to inherit eternal life. At first, Jesus calls on him to keep the commandments and actually enumerates several to him. The rich man replied that he has kept them from his youth. In verses 21 and 22 we read:
“Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.”
Is the message here that we should sell all that we have, give it all away and somehow devote ourselves to God in sackcloth and poverty? Not in the least, as these verses are speaking to a specific attitude we are to have. In Luke 14:26 Jesus states that if any man comes unto Him he must hate his father, mother, wife, children and brethren and even his own life. We know this word “hate” actually means to “love less” by comparison. It is the same with our income and possessions; we are to regard them much less than we do our love and obedience to Christ and His Work.
In the first two verses of Romans 12 we read, “I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and
acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Jesus is our example of this
very thing. He had been a rather wealthy man prior to beginning His
ministry and owned property and homes. He gave these things up prior to
conducting His ministry. Part of being a living sacrifice is to be a
wise steward of our finances and to insure that our income is not
needlessly tied up in our possessions and monthly expenses.
Let us begin now to look at specific financial and household elements in our lives. Clearly everyone has his or her own unique set of financial circumstances. Some are on fixed incomes, underemployed or possibly out of work at the present time. What follows are merely suggestions of things to consider as gleaned from many sources on the subject.
Set a GoalTo be a wise steward, we must first set a goal. You might ask yourself, “Using some or all of the suggestions below, could I free up just $10 a month?” How about $20 or $50 or $100. Set a reasonable goal and make it happen. Some of you will find that hundreds could be freed up in the next few months or by the end of the year.
Find the leakageOften, we really have no real idea of where our money is going. We might have a budget that directs how our paycheck is doled out, but do we study those budgets to find trends in our spending? Do you monitor your discretionary cash to see where it is going? Here is a time-proven technique: Carry a small notebook with you and record every penny you spend. If you stop at the local coffee shop for espresso and a pastry, write that down. Include all of your monthly bills and each item you buy in the way of food, household products and personal items. At the end of one month take stock of where your money is going. I was shocked the first time I did this. I found I was spending $30 a month on candy! I had no idea. Since then, I have freed up that money by reducing my “candy budget” to almost zero.
Take a look at a year’s worth of utility bills. Just what are you spending for electrical power, heating, and water? Are you leaving lights on all over the house? Do you heat every room of the house while actually using just one or two for the most part? Where are you using water? Are there any ways to cut back or conserve? Finding the leakage is the first action we can take to free up funds.
Become Your Own Credit Card CompanyThis idea struck me out of the blue the other day. I have four Visa credit cards in my wallet representing $4000 in credit. This means that a financial institution of some kind is allowing me the use of THEIR money for a price. The interest on those cards ranges between 9 and 19 percent. I have seen some credit cards charging as high as 35% on unpaid balances. This is financial insanity! Why do we need third parties to be our credit card company? What if I could save up my own $4000? Clearly it must be possible, for I am making payments to those credit cards every month. Instead of paying third parties for the use of their money, save up your own desired “credit line” and pay yourself back with no interest, no fees and never a late charge. Now you may not be able to do this overnight. It will be a process over a period of time but the benefits are many. First cut back on your use of your credit cards and eventually zero them all out. Then open a checking account in a different bank than the one you currently use. Get a debit card for that account. This becomes your new “credit card.” Check your budget over the last year or two. How much have you been paying to credit card debt each month? How much was taken up in fees and interest? Pay those same amounts to your own account. You can even extend your “credit line” by increasing the amount in the account and you do not need some financial institution’s approval!
Now someone said that this could never work for he needed the threat of
collections to insure that he made his monthly payments. If true, this
is a sad state of affairs for Americans and credit card holders
throughout the world. Being a wise steward means having the discipline
to carry out what must be done financially. Here is the location of a
credit card calculator that will help you determine the costs of having
your credit card and how long it will take to pay it off:
www.bankrate.com/dls/calculators/credit-cards.asp
Luxury ItemsPrior to the death of my wife, I had never dealt with the month-to-month finances. After all, she was a bookkeeper and tax consultant. After she died, I began taking a hard look at where the money was going and especially for what some might call luxury items. At the time, I had a cell phone, cable television with all the movie channels, and a phone system with all the extra features and a long distance provider. Each one of these providers began what is now infamously called “creative billing.” Have you looked at your cell phone bill or cable bill lately? You will see a long list of enumerated charges, many that you probably do not understand. It was true in my case. Here is what I did:
1) I got rid of the cell
phone altogether. Though a convenience at times, I could not really
justify the $60 to over $100 a month I was being charged. Instead I
purchased a prepaid cell phone from Straight Talk [https://www.straighttalk.com/home
].
See the
Plans page for their current plan costs. One can also purchase a yearly plan with lots of minutes for far
lower than the mainline services cost. Additional minutes can be
added anytime you need them. To me the quality of the phone is
virtually the same.
2) I cut the cable
television back to basic service. The savings were substantial.
3) I reduced my home phone
down to dial tone and dismissed the long distance carrier. In its
place I obtained a long distance calling card at a flat rate of 3.5
cents per minute. Putting $50 on the card gives me over 1,400
minutes of long distance calling and I can use it anywhere I want.
Household SavingsOne of the best places to practice being a wise steward is right in your own home. First, begin with your basic utilities of power, heating and water. What did you spend this last year for each of these items? The totals may shock you. What they will do, however, is get you to thinking about conservation and cutting some uses altogether. In checking my combined power and heating bills each month, I found I was spending as much as $215 a month and more. I considered my usage. I lived alone in a three-bedroom home and primarily use just two rooms. Therefore, I turned off my natural gas heating system and opted for a convection space heater (Presto Heatdish) I purchased at a local Costco warehouse store. It heats a whole room for a fraction of the cost of natural gas. I also cut way down on the number of lights I leave on. I only run the dishwasher when I have full loads and only do the laundry when I can fill the washer for each load. I also cut way back on watering the yard. My combined billing last month was just over $79. Since writing this, I moved to a two bedroom, two bath apartment and saved much in all utility bills.
Conserving in the home can be a family project with each member being a steward over certain lights, temperature settings and insuring the dish and clothes washers are full when run. Also think about going to simpler household items. For example, instead of scores of expensive specialized household cleaners, find one or two basic cleaners that will get the job done. There are a number of web sites that will help you here including: http://thefrugalgirls.com/homemade-cleaners and www.stretcher.com/stories/970217b.cfm
Transportation: Do you have any idea what it costs to commute to work each day? The potential for savings is substantial. Go to any search engine on the Internet and type in “Cost of Commuting” and you will be led to any number of calculators and recommendations for cost cutting. I went to one such calculator and had it calculate costs for a 30-mile round-trip commute, 22 days a month in a car getting 15 miles to the gallon with gas costs at $2.15 a gallon. Maintenance and tires was figured at .042 cents per mile while financing, insurance, depreciation and taxes was placed at .34 cents a mile. The total monthly cost for this commute is $346.72. If one were to take the bus at, say, $6.00 a day, round-trip, the cost would only be $132 or a savings of 214.72!! Even if you only did it occasionally, the savings would be $9.76 a day. Remember your goal might be to produce just $30 or $40 a month.
As one site suggested, there are many ways to reduce transportation
costs:
Here are just two sites you can use to calculate your own costs for commuting:
Cost of Commuting Calculator:
https://transportationevolved.com/cost-commuting-calculator/
On-line Help
100 Ways to Save Money:
https://www.thesimpledollar.com/little-steps-100-great-tips-for-saving-money-for-those-just-getting-started/
Saving Money Buying Food:
www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/thriftyliving/tl-savefood.html
What To Do with the AbundanceIf these steps help you to simply get out of debt and get even with the board…Rejoice!! If you create new disposable amounts, start a savings account, save for the Feast or allocate some to the widows or needy in the church or simply give it as an offering, it is all up to you. It was Jesus who said, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21). |
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Las Vegas, Nevada Church of God - part of The Intercontinental Church of God and The Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association - Tyler, Texas |