If you were to sit down and look over your budget, specifically at the percentage of your income that you spend in each different area outside of bills, what would you find? How much of your finances go toward entertainment, comfort, your health, to the church, or to the poor?
You’d be surprised at how much you can learn about someone by looking at their budget. Many people feel as though they have no choice when paying their bills, the truth is that just like time, we all do have a choice about how we make and spend our money, and the choice we make says a great deal about us, what we value, and where our treasures are.
What does your spending say about you?
If you were to sit down today and make an assessment and list of the things that you value, that you treasure, what would it look like? Would it include your faith? Your family? Your health? Your future? What things do you SAY you value the most and how does your spending line up with those values?
For many of us, this can be a tough question to answer. Plus, the question becomes even harder to answer when you take a minute to look beyond just what you are spending money on, to why you are spending it. That answer will be different for everyone with their different personality types.
Many times we tell ourselves we value one thing, or that we are doing things for the right reasons, but when we take a minute to really examine our motivations, our beliefs and yes, even our budgets, we find that when the rubber meets the road, the things we value the most, aren’t always the things that we thought we did.
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” ~Matthew 6:21
Where does your treasure lie today? Are you building a stockpile of things you’ll never need because you place your security in your ability to provide for your family rather than trusting in God? That’s probably the one I’m most guilty of. I squirrel money away each month, not spending it, knowing that I’m a single mom, and my income is so inconsistent that I need to be prepared. But in doing so, it’s too easy to start trusting in a bank account and not in the One who provided it.
Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
~Psalm 139:23-24
What does your financial situation and budget say about you? That question is something only you and God can answer. But it’s also a question that you should be able to answer. When is the last time you looked over your budget–not to see if you were going to make ends meet, to see if you could afford an expensive purse, or to see how much you had left over, but to see how your spending habits lined up with your values? Remember that our family’s, our children, and loved ones are always watching us Christians. What we do speaks far louder than what we say. Let’s make sure that those two things line up. 🙂
Have you categorized your spending habits? What does your money say is important to you? What does your money say is important to your husband?
I never told my husband this while we were married, but I always knew he didn’t love me. He NEVER spent money on me. Ever. No flowers, no jewelry, nothing. For holidays, he would ask me what I wanted. That was about it. Not that a man should spend massive amounts of money on the woman he loves, but if we are not spending money each month, at all, on the one we say we love, is that really showing them they ARE loved?
I’m not saying you can buy love, again, where your treasure is, so is your heart. That may mean something so small. When you’re at the store the next time, pick up a small gift for your husband, don’t spend too much money, just something to say you were thinking about him. Make a habit of doing this routinely and at random. After a year, come back and tell me how it really strengthened your marriage! 🙂
