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Paul lamented that he didn’t do the things he wanted to, and did the things he didn’t want to (Romans 7). For many of us, that sums up our financial lives. We want to make good decisions, to use our resources in ways that honor God and achieve important purposes. But we don’t. Why?
The truth is that most of our decisions don’t start with numbers in a spending plan. Those numbers are just the outworking of our realities and our priorities (including both priorities we recognize and those we don’t). Most of our decisions are made emotionally, and those emotions are based on our thought life.
We think, “I should have this, because my neighbor has it, or because my family expects it.” This thought creates a feeling of inadequacy, which we medicate by buying whatever it is that we think we deserve.
Much of the time, our thoughts and the emotions associated with them are based on outside factors – the efforts of marketers, our experiences growing up, our own money motivations.
If we can recognize the thoughts and resulting emotions that drive much of our financial decision-making, we can begin to take control of them. We can measure them up against Scripture and ask, “Does this reflect what God thinks about me or about His resources?” As we try to think like God does, we naturally become more faithful stewards of what He provides.
Join us as podcast host James Lenhoff helps us think through these key components of our financial decision-making and shows us the importance of bringing these thoughts into captivity for Christ.