Getting Control of Your Finances
Tom Shrader examines biblical principles for financial control, emphasizing the connection between hard work and income while warning against debt and lifestyle inflation. He teaches from multiple Proverbs passages about earning money honestly, living within one's means, and ultimately investing in God's kingdom rather than pursuing wealth for security.
“A city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Getting Control (2004)
Recorded: 2004
Duration: 46 min
Themes: finances, stewardship, work, debt, contentment, priorities, security, provision, struggling with debt, managing family budget, young professional, new believer, breadwinner, facing financial pressure, seeking financial wisdom, parent teaching children
Scripture: Proverbs 25:28, Proverbs 10:4, Proverbs 12:11, Proverbs 23:4, Proverbs 27:23, Proverbs 27:12, Proverbs 30:8-9, Proverbs 24:27, Proverbs 22:7, Proverbs 22:16, Proverbs 25:16, Proverbs 13:7
Theological Themes: biblical stewardship, financial wisdom, kingdom priorities, godly prosperity, material blessings, biblical economics, faithful management, christian worldview
Full Transcript
We're starting today, and you should have outlines. If you don't have an outline, we've got some around. You're going to need them. I think if you work your way through it, you're going to want them.
This is a four-week series and we have five weeks before summer break. So we'll work on these four and then we'll put something special in there. Then we'll take our normal summer break and then we'll come back loaded and ready to go in the fall.
This series, unless you've been around a long time, you have not seen this series. We last did it six years ago and it's interesting in going back and reviewing it because the thought process was we're looking at the world and the world feels like it's out of control. Isn't that funny? That was six years ago. It felt like it was out of control then. What's it feel like now?
The World Feels Out of Control
So we look around and I'm having a lot of conversations. It's very interesting to me. In the last 30 days, I've had a ton of conversations with people who are very despondent over what's going on. I've had a lot of these conversations and I think it's a combination of a variety of things. I think it's all the post 9-11 stuff. It's the Iraq war stuff. It's some economic things.
All of that gets complicated by a presidential election year because you got all the gloom and doom and then you got everything's good and then you got all the arguing. I hear five times a night, I hear Susan say, just turn it off. Just turn it off. Let it go. Forget it. Read a book. Watch Andy Griffith. Do something productive, but just turn it off, Tom. You don't need to watch it.
When we get like this and things feel the way they do, there's two reactions. One is that this again, almost despondent look that things are out of control. We need to remind you very quickly. They're out of your control, but they're not beyond God's control. That's very important to understand and very important to remember that as things come into life and they can be huge global issues, they can be individual issues.
A Personal Illustration of God's Control
We had a husband and a wife in our church and she was pregnant, went to the doctor. They're in about the third month and the doctor says there's no way that this baby's going to survive. You've been around and I've been around a lot of those things that are so difficult, but this is particularly difficult because here she is. She looks so pregnant. She looks so healthy. She looks so terrific.
Everybody, even the people you don't even know, are stopping you in the store and saying, when are you due? And all of that conjures up this reality that this baby's going to die. In fact, I got a call yesterday and she went into labor a little bit early and the baby died during the labor. So tomorrow at 2 we'll do a memorial service, a time of family time with the family and friends.
Those are very difficult circumstances, but they're great comfort. This couple's been spectacular because all through it, God knows what He's doing. He gave this test, this challenge, this suffering to a couple who can absolutely handle it in the sense that they're saying, hey, God's in control and what's going to happen is what God wants to have happen in this. Our mission is to be faithful and be obedient. Let's see what God does. Maybe God will spare the baby. Who knows? Clearly God can do miracles. And the baby died.
Two Wrong Responses to Difficulty
So we have one sense where we think things are out of control. They are not. They're beyond our control, many of them, but they're not out of control.
The second reflex is to become very fatalistic and to say, I just throw up. I give up. I just give up. It's not worth the battle. It's not worth the struggle. I just give up.
In the midst of all this discussion, what I want to point out to you is that there are certain things you can control. And thus the title of this new series, Getting Control, Getting Control of Your Life.
Four Areas We Can Control
We're going to look at four areas. Next week we're going to talk about getting control of your schedule. The following week, and I'm not sure I'm the best person to talk about this, getting control of your appetites. By that we don't mean food necessarily, we mean desires. The last week we talked about getting control of career. Today we're going to talk about getting control of finances.
Now, the last thing that I want to do is purport to you that I've got some sort of insight into financial planning or any of those things. I don't. That's not my area. What I want to do is give you some concepts that are absolutely important and essential for you to take and then you run with these. You apply these in your life.
It's always interesting when somebody comes in to a study and they would not be Christians and they would not be very familiar with what we do and they sit and after about the third session they say, where'd you get all this stuff? This is pretty interesting. Where'd you get this? And then you say, the Bible. And they go, really? The Bible really says this stuff? So, yes it does. It talks about all sorts of issues. I think you're going to find it helpful today.
The Theme Verse: Self-Control Like City Walls
On your outline you have what will be the theme verse for the four weeks and it ties so well into what we just studied. Proverbs 25:28, "Like a city whose walls are broken down, takes us right back to Nehemiah, is a man who lacks self-control."
So, the imagery there is this, that a city was safe based on its walls, which gave it security and its ability to defend itself. When those walls, as we saw in the study of Nehemiah, when those walls are gone, all of a sudden the city is defenseless. Well, the author of Proverbs is making exactly that point. A city, like a city whose walls are broken down, is a man who lacks self-control.
So, obviously, what we're going to be encouraging you to do in the course of this four-week series is not just to say, well, these are some great strategies, but to have the control and the discipline
To implement them. As you look at your outline, this is the pattern that will follow all through this series. We'll talk about somebody who's out of control, then we'll talk about some questions, and then we'll talk about how you can know you're in control.
Who's Out of Control?
How do you know if you're out of control with your money? Well, there's a couple of ways. Here'd be the most obvious. If you spend more than you make, so that is on your outline under "Who's out of control?" The person who spends more than they make.
If you're trying to figure out whether to buy something or not and the trigger mechanism is when they swipe your card, it says approved. That doesn't necessarily mean that you ought to buy it. That doesn't necessarily mean because somebody who doesn't care about you or love you - just because they say you can have it doesn't mean you can.
That gets us into the second point. Somebody's out of control whose lifestyle continues to rise to their income. So, the whole basis now for developing a lifestyle, and we'll talk some about that, is can I afford it? And oftentimes that doesn't mean do I have the cash to pay for it. That just simply means will somebody extend me credit.
It's funny, Tuesday night I was all done with this and I'm sitting there and Haley stopped over and we're sitting there watching something on TV and an ad came on. I'd just done all of this and an ad came on literally with print that filled the screen that said no interest payments until 2008. And she started laughing. Now you make payments in January but no interest payments till 2008. So that's another way.
Here's a third way. Somebody who retains any excess for financial security. In other words, all of a sudden they're putting their faith and trust in their own wealth. This is what I will do. I will build bigger barns.
There was a story in the Wall Street Journal years ago about this booming business of recovering sunken treasure. They were talking about a boat that had sailed from the Pacific Coast around up to the Atlantic and filled with about 300 people who had been working in California during the gold rush. They were taking their profit from years of work there and returning home. There were 300 people on the ship and a hundred survived. This hurricane hit and fought for 30 hours and these hundreds survived. Here was one sentence. It said, many were dragged to the bottom of the ocean, weighed down by heavy gold money belts, they refused to remove from their waist. But just a great illustration. I'm going to hang on to this stuff if it kills me. And it did.
And then the fourth thing, you're out of control if you retain this excess income so that you don't ever have to do anything. So we'll unpack some of this. We'll spend more time on certain points than others.
Five Key Questions
Here you go. Five questions. And we'll just work our way through them. And again, we'll spend certain time on more points than others. Five questions. And you've got them on your outline. What should you do to make money? What should you anticipate as income? What should you adopt as a lifestyle? What should you include in your fixed expenses? And what do you do with the excess? And again, that may sound like a silly question. What do you mean excess? There's never been any excess. Oftentimes, following God's principles will produce excess. We're going to talk about that today.
What Should You Do to Make Money?
Here's point one. What should you do to make money? Now, here's an old-fashioned concept. Accept that there's a connection between hard work and income. Here's a revolutionary thought. To make money, you should work. Proverbs 10:4. "Lazy hands make a man poor."
And yet, we don't like that. We're always looking for an angle. And I'm certainly, in my lifetime, have been a king of this. Looking for an angle. Looking for a shortcut.
I'm flipping through one day. Just surfing through the channels. And I come to this one section. Here's a guy. Just as I - handsome-looking guy is in this classic navy suit. He's got the striped shirts and ties. He's got the whole thing that's going on. He's leaning up on the desk. He's got the books behind him. He's got his hair all coiffed. This is a dynamic guy. And just as I flip, he's saying, "Would you like to work just 15 hours a week and make $300,000 a year? Would you like to travel the world? Stay in the finest hotels? Would you like to attend all the great sporting events in this country and around the world? Would you like to live a life of absolute leisure? Would you? Would you? Would you?"
And I'm - so I'm hooked now. I'm ready. I'm ready. And then he starts laughing. He says, "Hey, fat chance. Dial 1-800-EASY-STREET. It doesn't exist." And I clipped right into a Saturday Night Live skit is what had happened. And I had no idea. I'm ready to order the tapes. I'm thinking this is the best thing I've ever heard.
We all think that way. But one of the things that Scripture teaches us is, if you don't work, you don't eat. There's a connection between work and income. And one of the things that I'm seeing more and more, even among some Christian families, is this idea of a stay-at-home dad. And I think when you get into the Scripture, you're all of a sudden starting to see some roles reversed, and you're starting to see some problems there.
So what should you do for income to make money? Well, work. Here's the second thing. And this is really - there's tension here. Move out of your dream world into the real world. Now, the last thing I want to do is to be a dream killer. I love dreams. I love encouraging people who are dreaming. I love it when I'm with the students, especially, to say, you have no encumbrances to speak of. Now's the time to dream. I would say I'm even a little bit of a dreamer. But you have to be cautious there.
Proverbs 12:11. "He who works his land
The Danger of Chasing Fantasies
"will have abundant food, but he who chases fantasies lacks judgment." That phrase "fantasies" means literally worthless paths. What's the difference between you and Walt Disney, other than six or seven bankruptcies that He had? What's the difference between you and Ray Kroc, or you and Mrs. Fields, or you and whoever it is?
I have met people who are so focused on their dreams that they are—and this is my phrase—functionally unemployable. They're so focused on their dreams, and their dream occupies so much of their time, that they're no good in the process of implementing the dream. Really, they're not going to ever be able to succeed much beyond a clerk at a minimum wage position, because their whole life is filled with the dream. It's the dream. And they eat, and they sleep, and they drink the dream.
The Tension: Work Hard but Stay Loose
Now there's tension there, because the very next thing on your outline is the opposite of that, and that is stay loose. So here's the tension. One guy, we're saying to Him, go to work. The other guy, we're saying, Proverbs 23:4: "do not wear yourself out to get rich." It's the other side of the coin.
Work, work, work, work, work, work, work is all you do. One night you're home, and you're walking out of the neighborhood, and there's these three little kids coming at you, and it rings a bell, it looks familiar, and all of a sudden they say, "Dad." And you go, "Yeah, that's it. I knew I knew you from somewhere, and that's what it is." And you've never seen them.
The Importance of Rest and Recreation
I am huge—and anybody that's around this knows—I'm huge on vacation, recreation, relaxation. Clearly, I mean, I'm anxious to get to August. That's my kickback time, and it's really intense. I tend to—and I may even rethink this a little bit this year, because it's been so long and so hard—but when August comes, I mean, that's my time. I've got my books that I set aside I want to read. I've got movies I want to rent. I've got things I want to think about when I sleep. I just want to rest.
I'll be talking to guys, and they'll say, "You know what, I haven't had a vacation in four years." I just think, my view, that's really stupid. If nothing else, the people around you need a break from you. If nothing else, you go away, so they can rest. Think of those four people. They haven't had a vacation from you in four years either.
You need to recreate. I used to live for this vacation, and I now look forward to it, but for a different reason. Literally, to recreate, to go away, to charge the batteries, to think, to write, to make notes, to dream, to fantasize, so that you can come back, and now you're ready to go to work.
The Balance Between Work and Life
So you feel that tension in there, and there is tension. We're going to come back to it a couple of times. There's this whole idea, this tension in here, between gotta have the real world, and yet, I don't become so obsessed with work that I'm just killing myself.
I've got a friend who's in His industry, is one of the top guys in His industry, and in a subset of that, they have a think tank. There's 20 guys in this think tank, and they're all big money guys. The last think tank He went to, of the 20, 19 were there. The one that wasn't there was a 40-year-old who was having triple bypass surgery. Of the 18 that are left—I'm taking Him out of the equation—of the 18 that are left, all 18 were either going through or had completed a divorce. All 18, without exception.
What had happened, and this is obviously the case, if you're very, very, very successful at what you do, it becomes consumptive, and now it becomes the most important thing, and you convince yourself that it's really important to you and everybody else, and so you find your identity there, and now everything else falls by the wayside.
Why Work Becomes an Escape
I have my own theory, and that is, for most men—I can't speak to the women part of this—for most men, it's just easier to function at work than at home. So you will see guys—and I'll make a bunch of references to Coal Banker, because that's the last real job I guess I had—but when I was there, I would see these guys who would get there very early in the morning, stay very late in the day, and not be particularly busy. It took me a while to figure out, and then all of a sudden I understood it is, they just didn't want to go home.
It's way easier to be the commander-in-chief in the war room, there at the office, than at home, trying to convince a 13-year-old to clean His room. And so I'm more prone to stay there. So there's that whole tension, that idea of hang loose in the midst of it.
What Should You Anticipate as Income?
We just want to give you some thoughts here. Don't earn what you can't defend. In other words, be careful how you make your money. We're not talking about just legally, we're talking about morally. What should you do to make money?
Well, I've got a Cessna 150, God put me in Arizona for a reason. He must want me to make a couple of flights down to Mexico, bring some stuff back. I do two of them and I'm done. Well, we'd say, probably not. Probably not a good idea. So we talk about, not just legally, but morally.
The Challenge of Moral Investing
Where this really gets interesting is in the area of mutual funds. Years ago, remember the movie The Last Temptation of Christ? We had people down picketing The Last Temptation of Christ, who told me a couple weeks later, they discovered that in their mutual fund, they actually own the stock of the production company that made the movie. Years ago, the teachers were encouraging this lawsuit against the tobacco companies, and then there was a little story on the news, how several of the pension funds, teacher pension funds, actually own stock in all of Philip Morris, and all these different ones. So, you need to be careful about the money earned.
Avoid the Lotto Mentality
Here's the second thing. Avoid the lotto mentality. "Dishonest money dwindles away, but He who gathers money little by little"
makes it grow. I was a commercial banker, and toward the end, a lot of times when there were new guys, management would give us a chance to meet with them, or even interview guys as they came in. And I had my own little version, kind of a takeoff on the old Art Linkletter show, and it went like this: "New guys say the darndest things."
We had a guy—I do not remember his name—and he'd been there about a month, and so I'm talking to him, and he said, "I have a goal." I said, "Really, what is it?" He said, "I will not work on a deal if the commission is less than 50 grand. So, the commission has to be 50 grand or more for me to work on it." I said, "Well, that's an interesting strategy." At the end of the year, he had achieved his goal, but was unemployed. So, I'm sure on his resume it said "goal-oriented."
The Danger of the One Big Deal Mentality
There is that idea that this is the one deal, this is the deal I'm going to hang my hat on. I was in a cubicle of bankers. The guy behind me had this dream, this fantasy of this huge project. It was a great project. It was a great idea. And he essentially staked his entire career on that, and it never happened. Subsequently, it did happen, but I don't think he was part of it. It's that whole lotto mentality.
Let me read you the verse again, and then I will give you an absolute real-life illustration: "Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow." Little by little. That's not very attractive, is it?
There's a sister passage in the book of Proverbs that talks about how you and I should be—do you remember the term?—a steady plodder. I don't even like saying it. Steady plodder. It just sounds... Listen closely. North Dakota. That's what it sounds like. Iowa. Nebraska. The Midwest.
I am not a steady plodder. This, my friend, is a greyhound. All you have to do is look. This is a greyhound—sleek, ready to run. And yet, God gave me in my life a real-life example of this, and that's my mom and my dad.
A Real-Life Example of Little by Little
My mom and my dad, when we were young boys, my dad worked at the bank. He graduated from college, got married, went to Pikes Peak, took the train, went to Pikes Peak, came back, started at the bank, and worked there for 42 or 43 years. That's fairly steady employment. He stayed at the same bank.
When he started, they didn't pay him a lot of money. Banks don't pay a lot of money at entry-level positions, typically. And there's four of us boys. We would sit around—I laugh now, because at night, I go through two or three Atkins bars. The kids come in. They open the refrigerator. They take a soda. They take a Capri Sun. They take whatever they want.
Here's what we would do at night: my mom would get these little glasses, and we'd take a Pepsi and divide it four ways, and get some saltines and some peanut butter, and say, "Knock yourself out." And that's just the way it was. And yet, in the middle of all that, we always had one car—I mean, we never had two or three cars. And sometimes my dad would have a bank car, which was helpful at night, but not always. So there's four of us boys, and one car, and mom and dad.
Simple Living and Saving Dimes
I can only remember one time—that doesn't mean it didn't happen other times, but I can only remember one time as a young person at home—staying in a hotel. And that was when my dad and mom took us to Milwaukee to see a doubleheader between the Cardinals and the Braves.
Vacations? We just went down to my aunt's house and stayed with my aunt—four boys on the floor—or with my grandma. We just didn't spend it. Little by little. That's how my dad made it, little by little.
My mom saved dimes. I don't know why dimes. I guess nickels weren't enough, and quarters were too big. So she'd save dimes. And she'd get them, and then when she had fifty dimes, she'd roll them. And then she'd put them somewhere where nobody would find them. She hid her money in the freezer. That's where she put her dimes. She always wanted cold cash. That's what we always accused her of.
My dad was so archaic that he'd think of something like a Christmas club, or a savings bond. And yet, I watched, and little by little, faithful over an extended period of time, without the government coming in to rescue them, without going out and making some huge, wild dream, inventing a pet rock or something, over a period of time, by the end of their life, they had enough money to retire, to live comfortably, and frankly, to do whatever they wanted to do.
The Contentment of Enough
My dad was down here years ago, and we're watching TV, and it's a ten million dollar Powerball, and I said to my dad, "What would you do if you won the ten million dollars?" He said, "Well, first of all, I wouldn't spend a dollar on the ticket." Okay, so that gives you an insight. I said, "Well, let's say somebody gave you the ticket and you won." And he said, "I wouldn't do anything different. I'm doing what I want to do." There's something very satisfying in that.
There's this little, almost nostalgic thing. Tim Russert—you know who Tim Russert is? He's written this book about his dad, and I don't know if you've watched the discussions, but he'll be with Chris Matthews, and he'll talk about that generation. And he'll talk about Big Russ. And Big Russ came home, and Big Russ worked three jobs, and Big Russ collected garbage, and Big Russ did whatever he had to do for us to make it. And they love it, and they applaud it, and they should.
I do not understand why that same thought doesn't infect their politics. Why do they then not say to everybody around, "Suck it up"? It's like, I'm so sick of hearing about how bad the economy is. Why do I have to stand in line 45 minutes at a restaurant to pay three dollars for a dime egg? If it's so bad, I'm watching—I'm telling you, and maybe I'm getting old—but I'm watching these people come in with three little kids, and they got a $35 bill for breakfast.
Stay in Touch with Reality
This principle flows from anticipating your income little by little. Stay in touch with reality. Proverbs 27:23 says, "Be sure you know the condition of your flock and give attention to your herds." In other words, watch what you make.
This is 20 years ago now. I'm sitting down with a guy, and he said, "I'm in real financial problems. You need to help me." I said, "Well, I'm not giving you any money." He said, "No, you need to help me think this through." I said, "All right. The first thing we've got to do is you need to pare down your expenses." This is 20 years ago now, so I don't know what a dollar from 20 years ago is worth today.
He came in the next week. He said, "I got it down to bare bones minimum. I've got to have this to survive: $7,500 a month." This is 20 years ago. He said, "I can't get by on less than that." Really? That's it? You've got to have that to get by? "Yeah. Got to make $100,000 a quarter, $150,000 to get by."
I've been making six figures for a decade, and I don't have any money. I hear that all the time. "I'm making six figures, seven figures." What do you make? "$125,000. Between the two of us, we're making $150,000 a year, but we don't have any money." Where did it go? Proverbs 27:23: "Be sure you know the condition of your flock. Give attention to your herds." What are you doing with your money?
The Problem of Making Too Much Money
I interviewed at a bank. I'm interviewing with a guy by the name of Dick Oglesby. Dick was the manager down there, and you're doing this thing, and he'll say, "Any questions?" You're always trying to think of some question to ask. I asked Oglesby, "What's the number one problem that the people have that work here?" He said, "They make way too much money."
Now, I'm interviewing, and I'm broke. That sounded pretty good to me. I'm thinking, "Wow, that's good." I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "You can see it all over. The first year, they come to the Christmas party, and he's got on this $19 shirt, and a $10 tie, and a $120 suit, and some shoes that he paid $30 for. She's got on a $75 dress, no jewelry, and her hair—you can obviously see that she's done it herself."
"The next year, she's had her hair done. Dress is about $150. He now has a $30 or $40 shirt on. By the third or fourth year, her hair's done. Her nails are done. She's got on $500, $600, $700 worth of jewelry. Dress is $750. He now is spending more on the tie than he did before on the suit. They just spend too much money."
That's how you go. By the way, that's how you make six figures and don't have any money when it's done. When all of a sudden, you're paying $90 for a shirt, and $50 for a tie, and $500 for a dress, and you're buying watches and clothes, and you're eating out, that's how you don't have any money.
Only Count What You See
Here's the last thing we're talking about concerning money. Only count what you see. Only count on what you see. "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you don't know what a day may bring forth."
I'm going to give you a little secret here. Just because a deal goes in escrow, it doesn't mean it closes. Now, that's just a bit of wisdom. Well, you're not in the real estate business. When should you order the Suburban? Not when you go in and he says, "You know what? In September, I'm going to place the order." Don't order it yet.
Don't order it in September when he places the order. Don't order the Suburban when the order is manufactured, or when it's shipped, or when it's built, or when it's delivered, or when it's installed, or even when he pays for it. But not until he gives you your check, and then you cash that check, and you make sure that check clears. Now order the Suburban.
You have to be very careful in this whole process, especially if you live, as I did for years, on commission.
Count on God for Sufficiency
Count on God for sufficiency. This is a great passage. You ought to make a note here. Proverbs 30:8-9: "Keep falsehood and lies far away from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread."
Isn't that a strange prayer? I don't want to be poor. I don't want to be rich. Give me my daily bread. Why? Verse 9: "Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the Lord?' Or I may become poor and steal and so dishonor the name of God."
Here's what the author of Proverbs understands. He understands that God's going to give us our bread day by day, and that's good. If He gave it to us all at once, there's a possibility that we'd blow it. Or most likely, we'd say, "You know what? I've got the Midas touch. Everything I touch turns to gold." And then the people around you even begin to say, "Look at this," and now you're rich.
Here's what he says. He said, "Don't let me become rich and say, 'Who is the Lord?'" All of a sudden, in that equation, I've become my own God. If I've got daily bread, here's what that means. That means daily I'm going to go to Him and ask Him for that bread and thank Him for that bread. If I'm relying on Him daily, then I'm going to live like it. If I think I'm self-sufficient, if I think I don't need anyone, and I've got it all under control—"Bring me your problems and I'll solve them for you"—I become very independent.
What Should You Adopt as a Lifestyle?
A couple more questions. We've got about 10 minutes here. What should you adopt as a lifestyle? This is going to be frustrating for many of you because I'm not going to give you a specific answer. There's a connection, though.
Determine your expenses after you know your income. "Finish your work outdoors," Proverbs 24:27, "and get your fields ready. After that, build your house." If you're making $30,000 a year, you ought not spend $50,000. That's what He's saying.
It's the second point. Avoid debt like the plague. Proverbs 22:7: "The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is slave to the lender."
Debt and Lifestyle: The Dangers of Pretending to Be Someone You're Not
The Scripture says the borrower is a slave to the lender. Now, we're talking about debt. Should I never borrow money? No. It's okay to borrow money, but when I've got debt is when, if I liquidate everything, the results of that liquidation would not pay off my bills. At that point, I'm in debt. And I've got to be very careful here in the area of lifestyle.
Debt, we define debt this way—and this is not what you're going to find in Adam Smith's definition of debt. Debt is something that allows you to pretend to be someone you really aren't. Debt is something that allows you to look like you're just a swinging guy. See, if I'm out in the parking lot and you come up with a Lexus that's absolutely in hock, you've got all sorts of stuff on it, you're upside down in it, and another guy comes up with one he's paid cash for, I can't tell the difference. You look like a legitimate Lexus owner to me. I don't know the difference.
I'll see people all the time—wait till winter and walk by the Kona Grill at night, out there in the petting zoo area where it's fun to stop and watch all of them. It's like watching the animals. It's better than going to the Phoenix Zoo. Just get a Starbucks and watch them at the Kona Grill, watch them work. You can learn a lot about people. You will see people in there who are wearing their net worth. Everything they own, they got on.
There's another thing that debt does, and that is it gives you instant gratification. No interest payments till 2008, no principal payments till 2005. This debt is a terrible thing that needs to be avoided. We're going to connect a bunch of stuff here in a minute, but basically because it typically pulls you into a life that goes with that lifestyle that you don't want. So watch out for the debt.
The College Debt Trap
I watch these kids. I do not understand this. I do not understand a kid going to college, taking on a bunch of debt to get a job that pays $30,000 a year. I don't get it. I meet parents all the time that are taking money out of savings to send a kid to college. This is my personal view—you're nuts.
You got MCC. You got Scottsdale. Well, Biff's too good for Scottsdale. Apparently not, because if you can't afford the other one, he belongs at Scottsdale, or ASU, or the U of A. No, not the U of A—ASU, NAU, anywhere. I don't get it. Why take on all that debt?
Oftentimes, that's nothing more than a parent who wants to go to the club. It's not a lot of fun to be at the club when your business associate says, "I just got an email from Bob. Bob's at Brown. Where's your son going?" "Ah, MCC." I know that doesn't sound very good, but it's a smart thing to do. Watch out for the debt.
Biblical Principles for Lifestyle Control
Here you go: control your upward hospitality. Proverbs 22:16: "He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich both come to poverty." Be careful.
And here you go: enjoy moderation. Here's a verse we don't hear quoted very often. Proverbs 25:16: "If you find honey, eat just enough. Too much of it, and you will vomit." So that answers the question: Can I get too much of a good thing? Absolutely. Enjoy moderation.
Apparently, it's easier to control this moderation than it is to control the excesses. I'm a guy who's lived in the world of excess. The only thing I've ever done in moderation is work. Everything else in my life, I've done to excess. I've had two boxes of unopened running shoes. I've had diet books and workout books and club memberships. Excess. Enjoy moderation. Too much honey and you will vomit.
Getting Real About Your Financial Situation
Here's one last thing. When you're talking about lifestyle, get real. Proverbs 13:7: "One man pretends to be rich and yet has nothing, and another man pretends to be poor and he has great wealth."
Let's see if I can tie this all together. It is not unusual for me to have somebody say, "Can we meet?" And I'll say, "Sure." We'll meet, and here's what they'll say: "I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my desk. I hate my fax machine. I hate my computer. I hate the secretary. I hate the staff. I hate the boss, and I'm self-employed. I hate this. I hate everything about it. On Friday, about three, my stomach starts to relax. On Sunday, about three, I get a knot in my stomach. I hate it."
To which I will frequently ask, "Well then, why are you there?" To which they will always answer, "Because it's the only place I can make enough money to support the lifestyle to which I become accustomed." At that point, my friend, you've got problems. You've got to control your lifestyle.
Planning for Tomorrow's Problems Today
Let me give you the rest of this very quickly, because we're right on time. What should you include in your fixed expenses? Well, solve tomorrow's problems today instead of solving today's problems tomorrow. Proverbs 27:12: "The prudent see danger and take refuge. The simple just keep on going."
We had a guy in one of our studies, 28 years old, three kids, and he dies. That's a tragedy. I don't care how you cut it. That's a tragedy. Let me tell you something really tragic: this guy did not have a dime of life insurance. Now, I do not sell life insurance. I even hesitate to recommend to you somebody who does, because I don't like to be in that whole circle. But if you're 28 years old, and you've got three kids, and you don't have life insurance, you are an idiot. That is immoral. You don't need to presume on that. Take refuge.
Investing Your Excess Wisely
Here you go: put your money—what do you do with the excess? Never dreamed you'd have excess. Number one, put it in a safe place. And that's very hard to do. And ultimately, invest it where the return is assured, not insured. Ultimately, invest it in the kingdom of God, those things that will really last. There's nothing wrong with prudent planning. You need to plan. You need to also plan for your demise. You need to prudently...
take care of all of those things. But ultimately, you ought to be invested in the kingdom of God.
I've got friends who get frustrated when they get all this Christian mail for solicitation of funds. You probably get it too. Once you start giving, you probably get a bunch of them. Around November, you get a ton of them, because it's year-end stuff. I've got friends that get so frustrated with this.
You know what I think? I think it's pretty exciting. Look at all that God's doing, and you can be part of it. In some cases, you can become a real missionary without ever leaving your house.
When I got to church yesterday, there were six guys leaving. They're leaving to get on a plane to go to Manila. The day before, we put three guys on a plane to Morocco. I've got no interest, no calling. I don't even feel guilt that I don't have a desire to go. I just don't feel like I'm called there. It doesn't float my boat. It's not my deal. That doesn't mean I don't have to go. That doesn't mean I can't participate. Those are great opportunities around you. You need to be very wise and steward your money well.
Five Signs You Have Control Over Your Finances
Here you go. How do you know you're in control and you're out the door?
Number one, if you have a job you can enjoy. That doesn't mean every day you come in, they blindfold you, put you on a piñata, and you start whacking it around while they're throwing confetti in the air, and you go, "Yay, He's here." It's not necessarily that, but it's a job that you enjoy. It's satisfying.
There's a guy at 24th and Camelback Borders. I'm there virtually every Thursday. I'm walking through the other day, and there's a guy I've seen in there before. His name is Bob. Bob's been there three years now. So I started talking to him. "Bob, how long have you been there?" Three years. Bob looks to me like a guy who wouldn't just be your typical Borders guy, probably about my age. I said, "Bob, what did you do before this?" He said, "I worked with finance, stocks, bonds, mutual funds." He gave me the company—big company. He said, "I hated it. I just got to the point where I hated it." And He said, "I love books." He said, "I walk into Borders every morning, and it's like a shot of adrenaline. It's the best minimum wage job in the world."
Now, I understand the pragmatism of that, but I'm saying this guy loves what He's doing. You need to be in that position. Be careful. This is a true story. I had a guy, last time I talked about this, He came in the next week and said, "Can we have breakfast?" I said, "Yeah, sure. When would you like to meet?" He said, "It doesn't matter. I'm flexible." I said, "Well, I thought you had pretty set hours." He said, "I did what you said to do last week. I went in and quit. I don't like my job. I quit."
No, I'm not saying that to you. I'm saying to you, implement strategies along the way.
Number two, you should have money that you can anticipate. In other words, you're working, you're planning, you're thinking.
Three, you have a lifestyle you can support. You have a lifestyle that's justifiable. That, by the way, is going to be very individual. I find that's where a lot of this breaks down. People want to get all bent out of shape, and they're going, "Well, look at what they have. And look at what they have." We're not worried about them. We're worried about you.
Number four, you have reserves that you can access. You need to plan. You need to be diligent.
Number five, you have excess that you can distribute.
God Will Judge You By How You Handle Your Resources
You need to understand that God's going to judge you by how you handle your stuff. He's not going to judge you by how I handle mine. He's going to judge you by how you handle yours.
So the question is, are you under control? Do you have control of your finances, that aspect of your life? You need to take some time. You need to work that through. You need to be diligent in that area.
As strongly as I feel about this, and I feel really strongly about this, I feel even more strongly about next week's topic. Because next week, we're dealing with a non-renewable resource. If you lose some money today, you can just go get more. But if you lose today, you can never get that again. So next week, we're going to talk about how to get control of your schedule, how to get control of your time. Take a look at it next week.
Father, help us in this area. Help us see that You have blessed us with certain gifts and talents, and we're to steward them. This area of income and work, Father, help us understand that there's a correlation between how hard we work and the fact that we're to work hard and income. Some are going to make a great deal of money. Some are going to make less. Our job is to steward what You give us. Let us live a life free from the bondage of constricting debt and a lifestyle that's out of control so that we can enjoy this life that You've given us and so that we can serve You and praise You and bring honor and glory to You. God, we pray that in Christ's name, amen.
Have a great Fourth of July, great week. We'll see you next week.