Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God — this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — His good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2
“Good stewardship is not about ordering our lives in such a way that we are free to spend whatever we want. Rather, as faithful stewards, we order our lives in such a way that God is free to spend us however He wants. As we work to keep God’s heart central to our approach to allocating what we have, identifying Him as our true treasure, our financial choices will follow.
The Bible contains extensive wisdom about giving, saving, and spending, so that we can allocate wisely and avoid being entrapped by money. The Scriptures set forth guidance to help us as we explore these categories and how we can live fruitful lives…
How God leads each of us to allocate money will likely be different. But you can use these standards as a guide — giving 10% or more, saving 20% or less, and spending 70% or less — to avoid financial bondage and be free for God’s purposes to remain the focus of life.”
Chuck Bentley, CEO of Crown Financial Ministries, in his three-page essay “How do we make decisions about how much we should give, save, and spend?” in Purposeful Living: Financial Wisdom for All of Life compiled and edited by Gary G. Hoag and Tim Macready (Rhodes, NSW: Christian Super, 2018) 43-45. Click on the title to download this free ebook today.
For the many people who don’t live on a budget, a good starting point is to decide to will no longer follow the pattern of this world and spend whatever you want, but to renew your mind with the idea that Bentley sets forth that “as faithful stewards, we order our lives in such a way that God is free to spend us however He wants.”
We do this “ordering” to show what God’s will is and to reveal that we are not here for us but for Him. That said, I appreciate the guides Bentley gives, especially for people who do not yet live on a budget: “giving 10% or more, saving 20% or less, and spending 70% or less.” My wife and I have used a simple spreadsheet to do this for 25 years.
We start by giving to the church, some ministries and missionaries. Then, we list spending we anticipate in different categories, and we also have columns for saving. This is not hoarding like the rich fool, but for paying cash for purchases, to have margin for helping others, and/or to pay unexpected bills like car repairs or medical bills.
If you want to mine the Scriptures further to dig into the wisdom it offers, read Bentley’s essay or visit the Crown website, which features Bible reading plans and more for exploring what God’s Word teaches about the handling of money. When finances are ordered rightly, stewards are no longer slaves to money, but “free for God’s purposes.”
That’s what ordering is all about.