Day 80: Live Within Your Means

Scripture to Memorize:
Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.
Proverbs 31:31
Passage to Read:
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
1 Timothy 6:6-10
Prayer:
Dear Lord,
Thank you for today's truth. Help me to not chase after riches, possession, stuff that is ultimately of no value. Holy Spirit remind me often that being content with what I have and expressing gratitude for it brings godliness of great gain. Remind me often that I live in a country that is truely affluent when compared to many nations in the world. I not only have food and clothing but a warm lovely home, fresh water to drink, a vehicle to take me to and from all the places I chose to go. Keep me from the temptation and the traps of many foolish and harmful desires that will plunge me into ruin and destruction. Help me never forget Lord Jesus that the Love of money brings about all kinds of evil. I do not want to wander fromt he faith not be pierced with many griefs that will come from loving money. Instead Holy Spirit help me to love the Lord and to seek things that will bring him pleasure and glory. Help me to live within my means not only for my sake but for the sake of my family and of future generations. I want to leave my child, grandchildren, and great grandchildren more than boxes full of accumulated stuff. Stuff that they will not like or appreciate but view as junk. Instead let me leave them with an example of a life lived devoted to you. A life lived to bring you joy. In Jesus name Amen.
Personal:
Donna's lesson today is about living with in your means. This is the amount left after you have tithed 10%, saved 10%, and made an extra payment against your mortgage. Again she urges us to not live beyond our means through the use of credit. She reminds us again that people in Western cultures are living long. If we live beyond our means and do not save and make arrangements to pay off our mortgage early we are actually asking our children and grandchildren to make sacrifices at a later date to take care of us because we have lived beyond our means. She states that there are four things we can do to show our families that we truly care:

1. Give God what belongs to God, so your life is a life of blessing.
2. Get out of debt and stay out. Is your stuff more important than your family's future.
3. Save and invest for retirement so you don't become a financial burden.
4. Pay off your mortgage early and invest the tens of thousands of dollars you otherwise would have squandered on interest.

She also reminds us that as "godly women and mothers is to study what God's Word has to say abou money, then line up our finances accordingly." She even calls this an "obligation". Donna further tells us that we need to take the initiative to pursue financial wisdom, so we can impart it to our children and spare them some of the foolish financial decisions we made. By giving them the principles and encouraging them to put them into practice, then they will enjoy financial peace and that is an incredible give to be able to impart. "When your children finally realize the value of what you've given (it may take a few years), they are sure to arise and call you blessed in gratitude.

Affirmation: I believe godliness with contentment is great gain.

Practical:

Make a firm commitment to live within your means.

This is something that I have been working on since I originally took financial peace. I have been able to save the original baby step ($1,000 in an emergency fund) and we got rid of all of our credit cards but we have not been able to get beyond this point because of little emergencies that crop up. However, until this last little event we were able to take care of our emergencies. Fortunately, the bank is working with us but it has meant readjusting our budget for one year. However, fortunately it just requires us to have less money going into not essential things which really is what Donna has been talking about any way. Plus hopefully by continuing to get rid of some things that are really just "stuff" that would be considered "junk" by my daughter and her children. So Bo and I are in the process of getting these things ready to list on ebay and craigslist to attempt to get rid of. Plus there are something I need to get ready to just give away. So I know what I'll be doing this weekend in addition to grocery shopping.