Debt Destruction, a Primer

Last week I told you the story of how I came to hate debt.  I have to be honest, though.  Even though I hate debt…I was in it.  I financed my Jeep (it’s now paid off), I financed my wife’s engagement ring (thankfully it was paid off before the wedding – just barely), and I financed a computer.  The funny thing about that computer, though, was after we paid it off we ended up selling it because we needed money more than a computer…probably would have been smarter just to not buy it in the first place.  Now we have a simple laptop (that I’m typing on currently) that we bought in cash and got a great deal on.  Thankfully we were able to pay off all our debts except our mortgage in the last year.  Check out some previous posts of mine for the full story.

Look, the point is this: debt is everywhere in our culture.  Even those who earnestly try to avoid it can end up in it.  I mean…I’ve actually got a tremendous amount of debt weighing me down right now.  It’s called a mortgage.  It’s a big, nasty, hairy monster that sits in the darkness threatening me every time I want to make a bold career choice.  It’s got six big ol’ digits in it, too.  But “you’ll always have a mortgage,” right?  Wrong.  My wife and I are currently on a plan to knock out that big hairy monster.  A lot of people see a lot of debts as little monsters running around eating their money.

My goal is to take the fangs out of those monsters so they are much easier to fight.  Your weapon of choice?  Information.  Over the next several weeks I’m going to be posting a series on debt that I call “Debt Destruction.”  The goal isn’t to just reduce debt (which is what all the banks advertise – funny story the banks own ¾ of American consumer debt) but to completely eliminate debt from your life.

“But Heath, why should we get rid of our debt?  Won’t that kill our credit scores?”  Yes, little Timmy, it will kill your credit score.  Which is a-okay in my book, because I don’t plan on borrowing money ever again.  If you never borrow money, your credit score doesn’t matter.

“But Heath….”  There’s going to be a lot of “but Heaths” that come up, and my goal is to address as many as I can.  I know this is truly counter-cultural, and I like it that way.  Listen, I believe what the Bible says, and Proverbs 22:7 puts it this way:  “The rich rules over the poor and the borrower is slave to the lender.”  Let’s break that down.

The rich rules over the poor.  Well that’s kind of a given, right?  I mean the leaders in every country are rich, right?  Stop!  Look at the full context.  The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is slave to the lender.  The rich rule over their slaves.  The borrower is slave to the rich.  These two statements go together.  So who are the rich?

True fact: JP Morgan, Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, and other credit-lending banks are all MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR companies..  Listen, I’m not talking that it’s a multi-billion dollar market.  Those companies’ net worth are each over a hundred billion dollars.  They’re the RICH.

When you sign up for a loan from those banks, you are the borrower.  You owe them money.  They are the rich who now rule your life because you owe them money.  You are now their slave, because every bit of work you do gets sapped to pay them back for the money they loan you.  And they’ll treat you like a slave too.  Just be late or miss a payment.  They punish you with fees.  If you lose your job, they don’t care.  They’ll still sue you for the money you owe them until you have to file bankruptcy.  You become the slave of the rich, and allow them to rule over you when you borrow their money.

A lot of people see that as an extreme way of thinking.  But my Bible says to “owe no man anything except to love one another. (Romans 13:8)”  It also says in Proverbs 6 that if you find yourself in debt you are to “give no sleep to your eyelids and deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter.”  If you’re in debt you have to WORK to get out of it.  The Bible doesn’t just tell us to work, it tells us to not rest until it’s paid off, because the lender is the hunter coming after us.  The only way to escape the slavery of debt is to RUN LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!

And that’s what my wife and I are doing.  We are running full on towards the goal of being 100% debt free.  We knocked out the cars, the computers, and the doctor bills.  Now we’re going to use our new money muscle to take on the big hairy monster that is our mortgage.  And you know what?  I think you can do it too.  Are you tired of paying payments to the banks?  Are you sick of their net worth being absurdly huge and yours being negative?  THEN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.  Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter.  RUN like your entire life’s earning depend on it, because your ENTIRE LIFE’S EARNINGS depend on it!  Stop being a slave, stop letting the rich rule over you and gain freedom like you’ve never known before.

Join me on this journey as we break down and destroy the myths around debt and I’ll arm you with knowledge and truth to combat those monsters.  You can do this.  We can do this.

 

-Heath

Ministry, not Business

You know, when I began this journey this year, I started with a few expectations that I probably shouldn’t have had.  One is that I expected that people would get as excited about their goals, money, and life as I have been.  Sadly, I’ve learned now that while many people are unhappy with their current lives, they are perfectly content to sit in their unhappiness.  That’s okay, I’ll just keep motivating and teaching anyway, because I’ve also seen a lot of people make real changes in their lives.  It just seems that some people think the effort to change outweighs the results.

Another expectation I’ve had is that this blog, my one-on-one coaching, and public speaking would take off and become more popular.  This expectation wasn’t unreasonable in scope but in time frame.  I had in my mind that by the end of the first year I would have thousands of readers and be speaking to several groups and have people that needed coaching and help calling regularly.  To date I don’t have those things, but it’s not because the message isn’t good, it’s because Common Cents is still in its infancy.  I want it to get up and start walking long before it has learned to even roll over.  This expectation took me some time to get my head around, because I now know that I will be in this infancy stage for a while.  I can’t expect everyone to jump on board when I’m still unknown.

A third expectation is that somehow Common Cents would turn into a business.  Somehow it would begin to turn a profit and make me some money so that I could feasibly begin preparing to do it full time.  This expectation had noble roots, but ultimately was based on my want for money and my dislike for my current job.  Since I’ve made exactly $0 to date from Common Cents, I needed to sit down and re-think this one.

I really did, too.  At first I was telling people that the coaching was free because I wanted to build experience.  My first public speaking event is free because I need experience.  While that is true…something began to prick my heart about that.  God moved into my heart a desire to do this.  And in the back of my mind I was thinking that God would provide me this as a career and a money-making method.  Then I realized that it’s not my things I’m teaching, but God’s things.  I realized it’s not me that needs the help anymore, it’s the people around me.  I had to have a painful realization: Common Cents isn’t about me.

It’s all about God and helping other people.  That’s where my heart started and where it’s found its way back to.  If I never make a dime off of Common Cents but I’m able to help people…it’s all worth it.  If I can help someone get out of their debts and into financial peace, I don’t need to make money on that.  If I can help someone get motivated to move forward and change their life, me getting a paycheck out of it just doesn’t matter.

Don’t misunderstand, I know that one day God may choose to let me make a business out of this.  But that’s down the road.  For now, this isn’t a money-making business to me, and it never should have been.  This is a ministry that God has placed in my heart.  I want to help people.  Money or not, I want to help people get parts of their lives in control.  So Common Cents is free.  It’s free to those it helps, and it’s free to grow as a ministry.

Thank you for joining me on this journey so far.  I’m humbled with what God has been doing in my life through this and I can’t wait to see what is in store for my future.

 

-Heath

Lessons from a Heart Attack Victim

     Recently, a man I work with had a minor heart attack.  He said it was possibly the most pain he’d ever experienced in his life.  He had to be taken to the hospital where they treated him.  He was released a few days later and sent home with strict orders for diet and activity.

     Then, four days later, he had another heart attack.  This one was much, much worse.  He said the pain he experienced in the first one was nothing in comparison to the pain of the second.  He was again rushed to the hospital, and on more than one occasion the doctors thought they were going to lose him.  He said that the worst part was that he was conscious through the whole process.  He could hear the doctors talking, saying they were losing him.  His life flashed before his eyes, and several times he thought that this next breath would be his last. 

     Thankfully, he survived, but at a great cost.  He had to have several stints put in and had to undergo several other procedures over the next month and a half.  His diet, activity level, and the rest of his entire lifestyle had to change dramatically.  But that wasn’t the biggest change.  The biggest change was his outlook on life.

     I’ve never been on death’s doorstep, and quite frankly I’d rather not be there anytime soon.  But this man came back from his experience completely changed.  He wasn’t ever a really “rough” man, but his demeanor was much softer afterwards.  He wasn’t a grudge-bearing man, but he certainly became a forgiver.  In his own words, “There just isn’t too much worth getting upset about when you’re just glad to be alive.”

     I’m a big advocate of learning from other people’s mistakes, but this one threw me for a loop.  This man went through so much in such a short time and changed so dramatically that it is hard to ignore the significance.  Not only has his life changed, but his interaction with other people has changed.  His relationship with his wife has changed.  His relationship with God has changed.  He has changed.

     We always hear things like “Don’t sweat the small stuff” but how many of us actually listen?  We hear people say that family is more important, our children are more important, and that what really matters is the quality of your relationships.  But how many people actually live that way?  We tend to let our lives get cluttered by worrying about things that ultimately have no meaning.

     Yes, my goal here is to make sure you have a good financial life.  But don’t sacrifice your family for the sake of money.  What’s the point of having all that money if you don’t have a life to spend it on?  Being healthy is really important, but find a balance. 

     Don’t sacrifice one area of your life just to make another bigger.  Instead, make deposits into all the areas of your life and watch them improve together.  That way, you won’t miss out on the things that are really important, and you won’t go to your deathbed with regrets.  Stop taking your life for granted and really enjoy it before it’s gone.

     You see, I’m on this journey too.  I’m learning these things before I pass them on to you.  I want to make sure I love my wife and daughter more than money or honor.  I want to make sure I’m forgiving and seeking forgiveness rather than holding grudges.  I want to take these principles and store them deep in my heart so I can live life to the fullest under the shining light of God’s grace.

 

-Heath

Being Weird is Awesome: Giving

     My wife and I have been truly blessed over the past two years to really start getting our money in control.  We have been able to save some money, pay off all debts but our home, and stock pile an emergency fund that should be able to take whatever life throws at us.  One of the things that helped us reach this point was understanding a simple concept: It’s not our money.  It’s God’s.

     God owns it all.  He owns it all.  God owns the world and the fullness of it.  If I truly believe in my heart that there is a God who created everything around me and is sovereign over all things, then I have to believe that He owns it all.  All the earth, the creatures there, the land itself, the crops of the field, and, yes, all the money.  It’s all His.

     When you understand that it’s all His you have a much easier time handling it appropriately.  God blesses us with the money we need.  As such, we have a responsibility to do as God asks us with our money.  I’ve already written some posts about this but here are some scriptures about money that really bring this into perspective:

Proverbs 3:9-10

“Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce; So your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.”

Proverbs 28:27

“He who gives to the poor will never want, but he who shuts his eyes will have many curses.”

     There are dozens of verses on giving and proper money management in the Bible.  But these two (and many others) promise that God will take care of those who help others by giving.  We are to give.

     My wife and I have given a tithe every month to our church for the past two years.  This is because we want to make sure we are supporting our pastors and their ministry as well as being obedient to Scripture.  This past month we were able to give out of the abundance that God had given us and support two local ministries outside of our church.  God is awesome!  Not only were we able to hit our goals because we managed our money properly, but we were even able to give to others outside of that.  We give much more than the average person, mostly because the average person doesn’t give.

     Listen, I know it gets hard sometimes.  I know that sometimes the money is so tight you think you can’t squeeze any out.  But I also know that God is faithful.  We are to give.  Are you tithing?  You don’t even have to start with 10%, try just 1% until you can do more.  Are you giving to those around you in need?  It doesn’t always have to be cash.  You can give someone food, clothing, or other things in your possession if it helps.  Giving is the attitude God wants us to have.  And you know what, giving makes you weird because like I said earlier hardly anyone does it.  But, surely as you know by now, being weird is awesome.  You should try it.

 

 

-Heath

Being Weird is Awesome: Marriage

     If you know me personally, you know that I’m stubborn, opinionated, assertive, and can occasionally be a super jerk.  I’m not one of those people who think I have to be right all the time, but I just end up being right anyway.  I mean, come on, it’s not arrogance if it’s right, right?  But seriously, I am pretty awesome.

     But enough about me.  Let me take a minute to brag on my wife.  Of all the people in my life that I’ve met and interacted with, my wife is by far the coolest.  She’s smart, quite humorous, stunningly beautiful, and gave me the most precious gift anyone has ever given me.  A PS3 – I mean my daughter.  My daughter, Maggie.

     My wife is also incredibly stubborn, opinionated, assertive, and can occasionally have the appearance of a jerk.  You see, we’re two peas in a pod.  Like peanut butter and jelly.  Like steak and potatoes.  Like green eggs and ham.  Man I’m hungry now…

     Anyway, I think we have a pretty sweet marriage, too.  We have a LOT of common thoughts, beliefs, goals, etc.  That’s a big deal in marriage.  I may not be a marriage expert, but I’m pretty sure if you agree on politics, finances, religion, child rearing, and future goals, you stand a pretty good chance of having a marriage that will last.  Not guaranteed but pretty good chance.

     But you see, my wife and I are weird.  Yes, I’ll admit it.  We’re weird.  You see, since we agree on all those things…and this is so totally weird…we don’t argue about them.  Wait wait wait, slow down.  I think you may have missed it.  We don’t argue about those things.  Those are some of the most controversial topics on the planet, and we don’t argue about them.  That’s…weird.

     Most people on the planet will argue and get offended over political discussions, religious discussions, financial discussions, etc.  Why is that?  Well, people have different beliefs (and, of course, are allowed to have them) and sometimes those beliefs grind against one another.  This causes conflict and even anger, strife, and hatred.  Sometimes it breeds violence.  Sometimes it breeds fear.

     And I’m just talking about marriages still.

     The best part of my marriage is that my wife and I agree on these issues.  However, it didn’t start that way for every topic.  While we may have started off with agreeing on politics and faith, we didn’t necessarily agree on family, finances, or future goals.

     The real weird part is where we chose to intentionally work out those issues in our marriage and come to a place of agreement.  We really had to work together on our desires for our children and our parents and what we want out of a family.  We had to work together on our method of handling our money.  And all that together helped us come into agreement on our future goals.  We used to argue about those things, but now we’ve worked it out and it just…doesn’t happen anymore.

     Look anywhere on the internet and you’ll find stats that lack of communication is probably the biggest cause of divorce out there.  However, I think that’s a cop-out because “lack of communication” is such a broad term.  If you look at the specific reasons given for divorce, you will notice time and time again that it’s not cheating that’s the top reason, it’s money fights and money problems.  It’s not even abuse, it’s moving apart from one another because you’re not moving forward together.  Lack of communications is a nice, easy answer, but the root issues look more like career goals and dollar signs.

     Don’t take my word for it, though, go fact check me.  And feel free to disagree.

     Also, don’t misunderstand.  My wife and I sill argue.  We just don’t argue about those things anymore because we worked it out.  But we still argue and it’s usually over really stupid stuff like “where’d you put the mustard” and “why does the baby not have pants on” and “stop looking at youtube and pay attention” and “no I don’t think the fig tree that we never eat figs from should still be alive because it’s encroaching on our house slowly but surely and we’ll all die from a fig tree falling on us.”  Simple stuff like that.

     Listen, we’re not perfect but I’ll say we’re good.  We don’t argue over things that a TON of other people do, and that makes us weird.  But, trust me, being weird is awesome.

 

 

-Heath

Biblical Budgeting: Your Harvest

     This year I recently started caring a lot more about my health.  At the beginning of the year my wife and I were very purposeful about what we ate and what kind of activities and exercise we were doing.  The whole thing came as a progressive movement in my family.

     My mother was a heavy smoker.  She would easily put away a pack and then some a day, though she would never admit it.  My dad was a smoker too, but not nearly as bad.  So the irony of the situation was that my dad was the one who was told that smoking was going to kill him.  Since my mother is the most stubborn woman on the planet (and I mean that in a good way, I definitely inherited that from her) she decided that she would quit too.  And she did.  My mother and father both quit smoking after decades of inhaling clouds of death and cancer.  And they quit cold turkey.  How did they do that?  I mean people seem to think that’s impossible, right?

     And it didn’t stop there.  You see, after my mom stopped smoking, she came across a common problem quitters face:  their taste buds go into overdrive.  So, suddenly, food became the most amazing thing ever.  Needless to say, my mom and dad both put on a few pounds rather quickly.  But my mother (again, incredibly stubborn and strong willed) said that wasn’t going to happen any longer.  My mother, my 50+ mother (she’d shoot me if I put her real age) started to exercise and eat right.

     Mom had never really been big, but not exactly healthy.  I’m sure there were several times my mom wanted to quit and go back to her old lifestyle.  But four years later she is still smoke free and just finisher her first half-marathon.  That’s 13.1 miles, people.  My mother is a shining example of discipline.

Hebrews 12:11

     “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  However it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who have been trained by it.”

     The greater context of this scripture is the discipline of God, how God works in our lives to make us stronger and remove sin.  But the truth is wide-spread.  All discipline, whether from God or ourselves, is painful.  That’s the point of discipline.  It is a process of correcting the areas in our lives that need it.  It is knowing where we are lacking and improving it.  But discipline always comes at a cost.

     My mother gave up smoking, started eating right, and started exercising.  It was hard, I heard her say it many times.  It was difficult and took a lot of sacrifice.  She had to give up things she wanted and things she was used to.  It was painful!  But at the end of it, she took in a serious harvest:  good health and a much more physically fit body.

     My sister went through a similar process after her kids were born.  She put on a little baby weight, but wasn’t having any of that.  She worked her butt off, quite literally, and now is incredibly fit.  She actually used her experience to help other people and is now a personal trainer who runs marathons.  So, I guess I said that to make it known that I don’t really have a choice, I have to get in shape too because it’s now a family thing.  And I am.

     I’m just starting my discipline.  I’m running in the mornings, eating healthier, and consciously making healthier choices.  I am in the hard, painful part.  But it certainly helps that I can see the harvest on the other side.  Eventually, I’ll develop my discipline and the pain will go away.  Not only will it become easier, it will actually become pleasant.  That’s the harvest.

     “Heath, what in the heck does this have to do with biblical budgeting?”

     I’m glad you asked, random no-named person.  Budgeting is hard when you first start.  Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.  Like I’ve said before, you are probably going to fail when you first start.  I say that not to discourage you, but to actually encourage you.  When you know that it’s hard and you know that you are likely to fail when you first try, you will fail and say “oh yeah, Heath said I would likely fail the first time.”  That way, you’ll know in your heart that you may not fail the second time, the third time, and so on.  Eventually you develop discipline and over time you stop failing.  Then, not only does it become easy, but it becomes pleasant.  That’s your harvest.

     Zig Ziglar once said that you don’t pay the price of success, you pay the price of failure.  Success pays you.  It’s true for both physical health and financial health.  If you put in the work and develop discipline, success will pay you with a healthy body and a hefty net worth.  However, if you fail, you’ll pay the price of failure.  For your body, that’s medical bills and feeling awful.  For your money, that’s paying more debts and not being able to retire when you want.

     So get out there and start running the race.  You certainly can’t finish it if you don’t start.  That’s Common Cents.

-Heath

Biblical Budgeting part 3: Family Matters

     One of the most common things I have heard about in studying budgeting and debts are the sad stories of people who get to the point where they can’t feed themselves or their children.  This is always a sad thing to hear and it breaks my heart.  I try to help people as best I can and when we can give, my wife and I give.
     All of that was a little mushy, but it’s true.  It also is true that it actually angers me when I see people who claim they can’t feed their kids but they have incredibly nice cars, the newest iPhone, and can afford to go buy a new pair of designer boots.  I knew a man who “helped” his daughter by taking out student loans for her every year of her college.  This man also “helped” himself to taking out more than was needed for tuition and pocketing some money for his own use.  He kept his finances separate from the rest of the family, and after his daughter graduated he stuck her with the bill.  That is someone who has their financial priorities WAY out of whack.
     So what does the Bible say about our financial priorities?  If you remember my last post, I said that giving should always be our first priority.  Next on the list, however, is taking care of your FAMILY FIRST.

     I Timothy 5:8
“But if anyone does not provide for his own, especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

Prioritizing Family
     This statement made by the apostle Paul has a very strong point to it: your family should be priority.  This entire passage is about how the church is to take care of true widows and children, but the church has no business taking care of someone that their family can take care of.  That is why it says that is someone doesn’t take care of their own they have denied the faith.  Because as much as the church should be engaging in benevolence, we are to take care of our families.  Biblically, if someone in your family is on welfare and you haven’t at least attempted to help them, you are disobeying scripture.  Now, if the person leaves your family and decides to reject your help, that is on them.  But we are to take care of our families.  I know too many people that the children have moved out and are struggling financially but the parents are sitting on massive nest eggs.  That is not good prioritizing.
     If someone in your family, be it immediate or extended, is struggling financially, it is not the church’s job to care for them.  It is yours.  So help them as best you are able.  If you are able to help financially, do so.  If you are able to help them by giving them a book on finances, do so.  If you want to share my blog with them, do so.  But do something.  Sitting idle and saying “well they got themselves in this mess they can get themselves out of it” is a sinful attitude.  Again, if they reject your help, that’s their deal.
     But look at the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15.  That son blows his inheritance on stupid decisions.  Because I’m sure he was a good father (though Scripture doesn’t specifically say this) I believe he would have tried to help his son man wise decisions with his money.  But the son refused and wasted it.  How did the father treat the son when he came back, broken and destitute?  He loved him.  Our family members may make poor decisions, but we are to help them, forgive them if they have hurt us, and love them no matter what.

Prioritizing Bills
     Another thing that bothers me is when I hear about people who can pay their bills but pay them in the wrong order.  Listen, if your credit card payments are up do date but you’re behind on your mortgage…you have some priorities out of order.  If your car payments are current but your lights are about to be cut off, your priorities are backwards.  If your student loans are current but your kids are going to the neighbor’s for dinner every night because you don’t have any food, your financial priorities are a little off.
     Now I want you to get out of debt, don’t misunderstand.  But I’d rather your credit score plummet than your children go hungry.  I’d rather you lose your car than you lose your house.  If you are in a situation where you have to make these kind of decisions, you need to speak with someone who can help you as soon as you are able.  It’s a sad story when this happens, but it happens and so it needs to be dealt with.
     You, your spouse, and your children are more important than any collector calling you, any bill that arrives in the mail, and any person trying to sell you something.  With that in mind, I like what Dave Ramsey teaches:  the four walls.
     When you’re building your house, you first have to lay a firm foundation with a budget.  Then you need to make sure you’re taking care of your family by putting walls around your house.  These four walls are (in order):

FOOD     SHELTER     TRANSPORTATION     UTILITIES

     You need to eat, then make sure you have a house, then make sure you can get to work, and then make sure your lights and water still work when you get home.  If anything else on your budget takes higher precedence than these things, you need to re-evaluate your budget.  Entertainment is not more important than food.  Credit card payments are not more important than your mortgage.
     “But Heath, my credit card payments are less than my mortgage and I can’t afford to pay both!”  If this is your situation, you are in what is commonly referred to as a CRISIS.  You need to do some serious planning on how you can decrease your spending and increase your income.  But when it is all said and done, I would rather you have a horrible credit score and have the credit card company sue you than you lose your house.  And I think your family would agree.
     I’ll address more debt related topics in my series on debts, but for now I’ll just say that debt is dumb and if you don’t want to have situations like the one I just described (which happens a heck of a lot more often than people want to believe) then avoid debt as best you can.
     So keep your family fed and warm first, and then you can have a life afterwards.  This is called being a mature, responsible adult, AKA Common Cents.

-Heath

Biblical Budgeting Part 2: Tithes

     Investments, insurances, groceries, housing, entertainment, schooling…each one of these and dozens of other areas of our lives constantly fight for first place in our hearts.  So how do we know what how to prioritize these things?  What does this has to do with our personal finances?  C. I. Scofield, an American Theologian in the early 1900’s, had this answer:  “Show me a man’s checkbook and I’ll show you where his priorities are.”

     What we spend our money on has a lot to do with what we prize in our hearts.  Even Jesus says this in Matthew 6:21 “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Pay attention to Matthew 6, because Jesus gives a lot of really good money advice there.

     So what should our first priority be when we budget our money?  Proverbs 3:9 makes a pretty good case for tithing: “Honor the Lord from your possessions, and from the first fruits of all your increase.”

     Our income is often referred to as the “fruits of our labors.”  This is for a good reason, because as I already said last time, wealth in Biblical times often had little to do with actual money.  Whatever a man produced were his “fruits.”  As this Proverb (as well as MANY other places in Scripture) says, we are to give our first fruits to the Lord.  This is what’s known as the tithe, and Biblically, a tithe is a tenth of our increase.

     Malachi 3:10

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.”

     This is the most common passage quoted to support the tithe in the Bible.  The fact that the person speaking is God Himself gives is that extra “umph” to show us it’s serious.  God tells us to bring our tithe (again, a tenth) into His storehouses.  In Jewish times that would have been for the Levites and their families (those who’s occupation was to minister to their community).  This is the same function that a Pastor serves in modern churches.

     I need to take a minute here and speak my mind on tithing.  If you claim to be a Christian and you regularly attend a local church and you are not tithing, you are in sin.  Completely disregard this if you are not a Christian.  But to those who are, you need to be giving to your local church or else you are disobeying instructions God has given.  I know that I just rubbed a whole lot of you the wrong way, and honestly it’s a gift I have so I’m glad.  Biblically, those who claim to have God in their lives and claim to serve Him need to be supporting those who occupationally serve God.

     The church is not a for-profit organization, but it IS a business.  And it is a business that ministers to the needs of those both in the ranks of its members and out in the surrounding community.  Churches provide fellowship, counseling, teaching, activities, mediation, advising, financial aid, physical labor, training, food, shelter, and the list keeps going on.  Churches don’t get government money to spend on those services, and on top of that the pastors and various other staff have to feed and take care of their families too.  The average senior pastor in America today makes between $70k and $90k per year (http://www1.salary.com/Pastor-Salary.html), and that is not much when considering that the average pastor in America today works between 55 and 60 hours per week every week and rarely take vacations (http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/152641-pastors-hours-of-work-studied.html).  Honestly, most pastors could take their skillsets, go to a secular company and make twice their current salary or more.  So support your local ministers and keep them encouraged.  Only 5% of American Christians are giving a full tithe (http://www.church-development.com/Quick-Stats-The%2095-Who-Dont-Tithe) and 30% give nothing at all!

     Read that verse from Malachi again.  It says to test God.  God promises that if you tithe He will bless you.  If you aren’t tithing you need to start now.  Stop saying “I don’t know if we can afford to.”  Listen to me, you can’t afford NOT to, which is evident by the fact that the majority of Christians DON’T tithe and feel like they don’t have enough to do so.  Christians who DO regularly tithe will tell you that it is a source of blessing in their life, both financially and otherwise.  So get to it!  Make that budget and put tithing at the TOP of your list so it doesn’t get overwhelmed by the other needs in life.  

     Remember what Jesus said in the latter part of Matthew 6?  Let’s read it together:

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

     Another note and then I’m done for now:  Tithes and offerings are two completely different things.  Tithes are the instructed 10% we are to give to our local church.  Offerings are anything above and beyond that and do not necessarily need to go to our local churches.  These are only to come out of abundance and are not to be given if it means you can’t take care of your family.  Family is the second priority for budgeting behind tithing.  I’ll jump on that one when I come back next time.

     Hope you guys learned something today and were encouraged to start using a little Common Cents.

-Heath

PS:  To my Hampton Roads readers, our class in the Denbigh Community Center still has open seats!  Jump over to class registration to sign up today!  Couples can sign up together for a discount!  Follow me on twitter (@commoncentsnn) for updates on our classes.

Biblical Budgeting Part 1: Sheep and Towers

     For those of us who claim to be Christians (and even for those who don’t), it’s important to understand something about the Bible:  It has a LOT to say about money.  I am blown away by the amount of people that are surprised – shocked even – when I show them that the financial principles I follow and teach come out of the Bible.  I normally get this odd head-tilt with eyes that say “Really…that’s in the Bible?” 

     I guess what most people think about the Bible is that it’s just a bunch of flowery words about loving people and God being a cool guy.  The reality is this:  the Bible is a book written by the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE.  Guess what?  If He designed how this world works, don’t you think He would know exactly how to run it?  Likewise, if God invented the very concept of money, wouldn’t you think He would be the person to ask for help using it?

     Throughout this blog I’ll be sharing a lot of information on what the Bible says about money.  And trust me, it has a LOT to say.  But let’s start small so you don’t feel like you’re drinking from a fire house.  Here’s the first sip, ready?

Know the state of your flocks.

     So what does the Bible have to say about budgeting?  How could a book over 2000 years old have any relevance in the world of contemporary finance?  Get ready to tilt your head, because being intentional with your money was God’s idea all along.

     Proverbs 27:23-27
Be diligent to know the state of your flocks,
And attend to your herds;
For riches are not forever,
Nor does a crown endure to all generations.
When the hay is removed, and the tender grass shows itself,
And the herbs of the mountains are gathered in,
The lambs will provide your clothing,
And the goats the price of a field;
You shall have enough goats’ milk for your food,
For the food of your household,
And the nourishment of your maidservants.

     “Heath…buddy…it’s 2013…we don’t have flocks of sheep and goats…”

     I know that.  But let’s take a minute to unpack what we have here, because it’s intense.  First, you have to understand something:  This was written in the days of King Solomon.  During that time, people didn’t have investment portfolios and tax-sheltered real estate.  Instead, their wealth and livelihood was based on what they possessed, and in the majority of cases that was your “flocks.”  This is why cattle, sheep, etc. are called livestock.  They were a stock of possessions that defined how you lived.

     For a person in this day to not keep track of their livestock would have been stupid.  You needed to know how many you had in order to be aware of your current financial situation.  Livestock was used for EVERYTHING.  Wool for clothing, meat, milk, plowing the fields, trading, payment for services, you name it and livestock was good for it.  So when the proverbs told people to keep track of their flocks, it meant “Keep track of your financial state.”  Let me give you the Heath Hudnall contemporary version:

“Make sure you control the money you have coming in and out now, because you never know what is coming around the corner.  When the markets go down and your income isn’t as stable, your kids won’t go hungry because you took care of everything in advance.”

Now, THAT sounds like a financial plan.  Budgeting is the tool that accomplishes that task.  There’s more too.

Count the costs before you build

     Luke 14:28-30
“For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’ “?

     This is Jesus speaking.  The greater context of this passage is the intense cost of being a Christian, but this simple analogy bears significant weight in our budgeting discussion.  Jesus asks a simple question:  “Who makes a building without a plan?”  If you wanted to build a $500,000 house, you wouldn’t just point to an empty field and say “House, come forth!”  No!  You would carefully select the area you wanted your house.  You would carefully plan out how many rooms the house would have, how many bathrooms, what kind of layout, the roof style, do you want a garage or a carport, how much space in the front and back yard, etc.  You would have a PLAN, otherwise your house wouldn’t come together very well or someone else would make your decisions for you.

     It’s the same with finances.  The average American household makes between $40k and $50k a year, so in any given ten year period it would be completely reasonable to say that the average American family goes through HALF A MILLION DOLLARS.  If you just let it all slip through your hands and don’t make a solid plan, you’ll have no idea where it’s going!  Your house won’t come together correctly!  Jesus is saying that you HAVE TO HAVE A PLAN.  Otherwise, your goals will never be accomplished and people will mock you for your mistakes.  I didn’t say it, Jesus did.  The Bible’s ways aren’t rocket science, but hopefully I just showed you how they are Common Cents.

     That’s all for now, but I’ll be back with Biblical Budgeting part 2 soon.  In the meantime, what are some other good verses out of the Bible on money you guys know?  Share some in the comments!

-Heath