Prioritizing: Faith’s Goals in Financing

Cubby-holes are good. Ever since kindergarten, cubby-holes have helped us sort and separate the stuff of our lives. The father of lies, who uses everything to snuff out our saving trust and redirect our sanctified faith, has gotten us to cubby-hole certain aspects of our lives by labeling some things as “spiritual” and others as “practical.” The truth is that everything in our lives is spiritual, including the practical parts, because the lives that we live, we live by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us (Galatians 2:20)!
One area of life that we often cubby-hole is our finances. We think “spiritual” when it comes to offerings for the Lord’s work and “practical” when it comes to almost every other financial expenditure, such as taxes, household budgets, investments, savings, and recreation.
The Lord does not set up such boundaries. In the same inspired breath we’re encouraged to, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart,” as well as, “Honor the Lord with your wealth” (Proverbs 3:5,9). The Word does not separate one use of our wealth from another in honoring the Lord, does it? So, we who have been made indescribably and eternally wealthy through Jesus—who was “rich, yet for our sakes became poor so that we through His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9)—should consider all use of our money as a spiritual matter.
Unbelievers don’t understand how we can think spiritually of the use of our dollars and cents because their vision is different from ours. They think: “Here and now.” We think: “Here and now and forever.”
New Testament believers are not told exactly how much to spend in the various areas of life. Christian duty calls for paying taxes; the government will determine how much. Providing for our family is of major importance and calls for the majority of our funds. Paul warns that we’d be worse than unbelievers if we didn’t provide for those under our roofs! Recreation is important too, but is not to be confused with what is necessary. Then there’s charitable gifts besides funding the Lord’s Gospel work. Within and without the walls of our congregations, people are starving for the Bread of Life (a priority!) as well as the abundance we could share—not to be overlooked!
Since we have so much Christian liberty in how we spend the money that the Lord loans to us for our pilgrimage on earth, perhaps the simple “80–10–10” plan could guide our financial goals. That is, 80% of your income, the biggest slice, is for family needs. The 80% includes housing, food, clothing, transportation, insurance, taxes, etc. (those things included in Jesus’ petition for daily bread), plus desired items and activities. Discernment is called for when determining the priorities within that 80%, for “wants” are not “needs.”
Then 10% can be set aside for our Lord and His work, which includes charitable gifts. The Old Testament requirement for the tithe can be a New Testament model for planning. Just think if you planned all of your “church and charity” designations—barring special circumstances and situations—you could honestly tell the person on the other end of the phone appeal, “I’m sorry, but we’ve already planned our charitable giving for the year,” as you wish them blessings in their worthy pursuits.
The final 10% is our saving for future unforeseen emergencies and for foreseen retirement. While Jesus did not address saving, He did, however, address greed (see Luke 12:21)! Don’t let our saving for unexpected calamities and expected responsibilities turn into an insatiable, consuming desire for more, or display a lack of trust in the Lord, who holds the future no matter what the future holds! In biblical times, advanced age was rare and families generally cared for their own people. Today many live one-fourth of their lives in retirement. Why not plan for it? This second 10% could serve as floor and ceiling, not too little, not too much.
Don’t cubby-hole your finances. Plan and spend your money spiritually. If setting your financial goals with the 80–10–10 plan helps, do so to the glory of God!
David Russow serves as pastor and missionary at Redeeming Grace Lutheran Church, Rogers, Minnesota.