If it doesn’t make dollars it doesn’t make sense!  Sounds superficial?  Well it’s not.  The Bible says, and I quote:  I Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs”.  That verse is often interpreted for too many, that money itself is evil and forget the phrase “the love of money”, not money alone.  Money is an object, a medium of exchange.  It is the way people obtain the goods and services needed to survive.  It alone does nothing.

There is nothing wrong with wanting money or more of it and nothing wrong with making lots of money.  You do not have to be poor to be humble, you do not have to be poor to have a good heart or be a Christian.  In fact, it is harder to make a difference when you do not have money because having money gives people options.  It provides options to the one making the money as well as options to those he or she desires to bless as well.  It allows one to do, have and become when the money is allocated appropriately.

I do not pretend to be an expert but I am knowledgeable and what I have and do learn, I’m always a vessel for knowledge to flow.  What I have learned over the years is that why we understand choices and consequences for everyday issues of life, we seem to ignore or do not employ the same knowledge with money matters.  As people, we tend to remain in the mindset of money problems being out of our control and that the only solution is more of it.  I must admit I lived in that world for too long.  Looking back, that type of thinking is absurd but when say anything to yourself long enough you begin to believe it (faith cometh by hearing).  * Every choice made with your money will directly affect your future flow of funds.  Once you begin to think in this manner, it will hopefully add better perspective to how you treat the money in your possession.

Myth #1 – Things just come up. That’s what we say, what we really mean is.  I knew it could happen but I spent the money hoping it wouldn’t happen.  Truth?  Yes, it is.  I had a flat tire, unexpected bill, or getting sick are all viable things that occur to people every day.  These things are pretty normal.  The other thing which is normal is that most people spend and live on and up to the money he or she makes.  It’s not the “things that pop-up” which cause inhibit, hurt or place the finances in a crunch, it’s the lack of planning and saving for those things.  In reality the tires usually get flat because we buy a car, get a note that leaves little to no room for maintenance.  The bill is unexpected in most cases because the arrangement you thought you could make, you can’t and now it’s an emergency because you spent the money elsewhere.  In theory, lack of planning, budgeting helps us remain in poverty.   The choice is made to spend money on other things while the consequence is the things needed go lacking.

Myth #2 – I can afford it, so I buy it   Truthfully speaking most people do not know what they can or cannot afford.  They don’t know what it takes to run their home each month, how much to break even and if they ever have a profit from month to month.  Most people pay bills, heads down and when they get fed up, they spend or over spend and deal with the consequences later.  Too often their method includes placing a drain on someone else’s finances.  Not cool.  Yet this is reality for too many.  Budgeting isn’t so much a limitation or a denial of goods or services, it’s a planning tool to help one meet all the demands against his or her finances timely and appropriately.  It’s a tool of prioritizing.  Budgets separate the “needs” from the “wants”, the “right now” from the “it can wait.”  Budgets tell people what they really can afford.

Most often when people say that they can afford it, it means I can buy it right now so I will get it and they never add up the cost later of missed bills, borrowing because they forgot about something else or the cost incurred from lack of planning for the purchase.  The choice is I want it, I am buying it or bought it.  Consequence now my purchase is added to my bills and becomes another burden rather than the gift.

Myth#3 I deserve it, I owe it to myself.  How can a person love his or herself and buy something or make financial decisions that bring them more grief than joy? That’s not love, that’s trying to impress someone else.  You have to be careful when it comes to money because people will judge you by what you do or what you have to determine whether you are successful or not.  If that’s important to you, you will find yourself making purchases and acquiring things to look prosperous when you can take time, sacrifice for a season, build wealth and become prosperous.   Treating yourself is very personable and when a person really does it, he or she never have to speak a word.  What you really owe to yourself is to plan for what you want, buy it and not feel guilty because you can and never allow others to dictate or determine what gifts you give yourself.  The choice to impress and the consequence is long-term stress to pay for what was supposed to be a blessing.

Financial situations are never out of our hands, not nearly the way we stress or deem them to be.  The power of financial freedom or economic empowerment lies in our choices and being able to think through them for better consequences tomorrow.