We must spend money wisely because finances are one of our most crucial Christian stewardships. Read or listen to this material from Your Finances God’s Way to learn four biblical ways to spend money wisely.
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We must spend money wisely because finances are one of our most crucial Christian stewardships. Here are four principles for doing so.
First, Spend Money Wisely by Waiting Two (or More) Weeks
In our home, we found a simple, practical way to avoid regretful purchases: We wait a few weeks before buying. Wait two weeks (or four weeks if you want to be sure) and see if you still want to purchase. We don’t have to follow this principle for everything we buy, but the lower the price at which you are willing to apply this principle, the better the chances that you’ll save money and avoid remorse.
If you wait a few weeks and still want to make the purchase, there’s a better chance you won’t regret it. Often, regret occurs within a few days. Waiting can help you avoid this. You’ll find yourself sitting back and saying, “I sure am glad I didn’t make that purchase,” versus “I can’t believe I bought this.” While I’ve heard many people share their regret associated with impulsive purchases, I’ve never heard anyone say, “I regret the time I spent waiting to buy this.”
Second, Spend Money Wisely by Avoiding Being an Esau!
Let’s consider Jacob and Esau’s familiar account. Esau came back from the field tired and hungry. He wanted some of his brother’s stew. Jacob said, “I’ll give you some if you give me your birthright.” It is hard to believe Jacob asked something so outrageous, but his name means “deceiver” or “heel catcher,” so it was fitting for him to do this.
The only thing more outrageous than Jacob’s request was Esau’s response. In Genesis 25:32, he said, “I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?” However, Esau wasn’t in danger of starving. He was being dramatic to justify his behavior, just like we are sometimes dramatic to justify our behavior: “I need this…I have to have this…If I don’t get this…”
Esau didn’t care what the stew cost him. He wanted the stew, and he wanted it now. His impatience is shown in two ways. First, and most obviously, he wouldn’t wait for food. Second, he wouldn’t wait to enjoy his birthright, which would have been a big blessing to him later. But because it didn’t benefit him at the moment, he did not want it.
Did Esau go on to regret his impatience? Absolutely! When he realized he had given up his birthright and would receive no blessing from his father, “he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry…For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected…though he sought it diligently with tears” (Genesis 27:34 and Hebrews 12:16-17). It’s sad imagining a grown man sobbing and begging his father to give him something. He was impatient, and it caused him regret. We, too, can be impatient in ways that lead to regret.
Philippians 3:19 describes people “whose god is their belly.” They are controlled by “their appetites” or whatever they want. This describes Esau, but it can describe us too. We should ask ourselves: “Am I like Esau? Is my god my belly? Are my purchases controlled by my appetites and whatever I want now? Am I an impatient type of person who ends up with regret?”
The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment
The Stanford marshmallow experiment was a series of studies conducted on children. They were given one marshmallow and told they could eat it immediately, but if they waited until the person conducting the experiment returned 15 minutes later, they would receive a second marshmallow. The children fell into two categories—those who ate immediately and those who waited and received a second marshmallow.
In follow-up studies of the children as they grew older, the researchers found that the children who waited tended to have “better life outcomes as measured by SAT scores, educational attainment, body mass index, and other life measures.”1 Their patience—or impatience—dramatically affected their behaviors later in life, including their financial decisions.
Third, Spend Money Wisely by Doing Your Research
Doing your research is the only way to ensure you get a good deal and avoid wasting money. If you’re unfamiliar with the item’s average price, how will you know whether to make the purchase or keep looking?
Earlier, I suggested waiting before buying. This will give you the time you need to do your research. Talk to people who can give you input: “Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14; see also Proverbs 15:22; 24:6). Apply this to your finances. If you’re considering buying a vehicle, who do you know who knows vehicles? If you’re considering a new sink, lighting system, or patio, what recommendations can you receive from friends who are plumbers, electricians, or woodworkers?
Also, be sure to include your husband or wife in your research. Your spouse might not be an expert on the product, but this is the person you should trust God to help you more than anyone else in your life. He or she might say, “I don’t think we should do this now,” or “I think we should buy this instead.” Katie and I talk about most purchases ahead of time, and there have been plenty of times when one of us, fortunately, put on the brakes. If you’re a child, ask your parents for their advice.
We needed a new vehicle a few years ago because our growing family could no longer fit in our seven-passenger minivan. We decided to take the plunge and purchase a fifteen-passenger van. I started my research by creating a spreadsheet with columns that included price, year, mileage, and average review from the Internet. I developed a simple formula that allowed me to assign each van a rating based on the data I accumulated. Soon, I had a spreadsheet full of information, and I added to it each day when more vans were put on the market.
One day, a van showed up, and the rating was much higher than any previously. My research indicated that this van was an incredible deal. A restaurant owner had purchased the vehicle and thought he would use it for the business, but drove it only a few times. He told a friend he just wanted him to get rid of it. When I arrived to buy the van, the friend said, “You must be getting a great deal because I’ve already had fifty other offers since you first called.”
Fourth, Spend Money Wisely by Letting God’s Commands Serve as Fleeces
This principle can help with purchases and figuring out God’s will in general. Scripture gives us commands that can serve as fleeces, or litmus tests, to direct us. Obeying them enables us to determine what to do.
Let’s consider something specific, such as buying a house. Many people would say God’s Word doesn’t tell us what house to buy, but I disagree. No, we are not told directly, but the commands in Scripture can indirectly help us make the right decision. For example:
- We are commanded to be involved in a local church: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).
- We are commanded to care for our family members: “If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8).
- We are warned about debt: “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender” (Proverbs 22:7).
- Parents are commanded to spend time with and raise their children: “You shall teach [God’s words] diligently to your children… older women [should]…admonish the young women to…love their children…Fathers [should]…bring [up their children] in the training and admonishment of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:7; Titus 2:3-4; Ephesians 6:4).
If we keep these commands in mind while looking at a house, we can ask ourselves these questions:
- Is this home close enough to a local church that we can get involved in?
- Can I take better care of my family with this home?
- Will this home decrease my time on the road to and from work, giving me more time with my children?
Just as these questions help us determine whether our reasons for buying a specific house are godly, we should also consider whether our motivations are ungodly. For example, could we be motivated by…
- pride—we want a new house that makes us feel better about ourselves and improves our self-image and reputation. Instead of having our identity in Christ, our identity is in this purchase: “All that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world” (1 John 2:16).
- covetousness—we have a home that meets our needs and has served us well for years, but our best friend moved into a new place and invited us over to see it. Suddenly, our house doesn’t look so good anymore. Now we want a new home that rivals our friend’s: “[Jesus] said to them, ‘Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses’” (Luke 12:15).
- entitlement—we have worked hard for years and made many sacrifices. Our faithfulness in the workplace and diligence with our finances have left us in a strong financial position. We begin to tell ourselves, “I deserve it. I owe it to myself.” But Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24).
Although young people might not be looking for a home, if you’re a young person reading this and are still under your parents’ authority, how do your parents feel about whatever you are considering buying? Do you have their blessing? Ephesians 6:1-3 says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother,’ which is the first commandment with promise: ‘that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.’” Considering these verses, if parents don’t want their children to buy something, it is possible that God would not want them to buy it and is conveying that through the parents.
When we look at what God’s Word says about debt, family, marriage, children, pride, covetousness, entitlement, selfishness, materialism—and the list could go on—we have enough information to make the right purchase decisions (and most other areas of life). The issue isn’t usually a lack of knowledge. Instead, the issue is twofold: First, are we willing to take the time to study Scripture to learn what God wants? Second, are we willing to obey after we learn what God wants?
An Example from Our Lives
We lived in the parsonage when we moved to Washington in 2010 to pastor Woodland Christian Church. A few months later, my parents moved to be near us and settled on a home just a few hundred feet away. In 2019, the church hired an associate pastor who wanted to live in the parsonage. My dad had Alzheimer’s, and we knew he would need greater care in the future than my mom could provide, so we looked at purchasing a home together.
In making this decision, we had two convictions that served as fleeces to direct us. First, we knew we wanted to remain debt-free (Proverbs 22:7; Romans 13:8). Second, we knew we needed to honor my parents (Exodus 20:12; Ephesians 6:2-3).
We thought the first command would be easy to obey because after putting our money together, we knew how much we could afford if we wanted to spend money wisely. However, we soon discovered that our obedience to even this command was being tested. We fell in love with one house that was $25,000 more than our budget would allow. If the house had been $250,000 more than we could afford, we could have said no more easily. But because the new debt seemed so small, we were tempted to say, “It’s only $25,000. We could quickly pay this off.” We stuck to our convictions and passed on this house by God’s grace.
The second command was also difficult to obey. We looked at many houses that Mom, Katie, and the kids liked but Dad disliked. He always had an odd, and at times even unreasonable, issue. We were tempted to say, “He has Alzheimer’s and isn’t thinking correctly, so we don’t need to listen to him.” Instead, we said, “If God wants us to buy a house, He can give Dad peace about it.”
The temptation to compromise on our fleeces increased as the house hunting continued. Finally, a house right next to my parents became available, priced barely under the amount of money we had available. Everyone liked it, but we knew the real test was with Dad. Mom talked to him about the house and told him he liked it. To be sure, I talked to Dad about it, too, and he also assured me that he liked it.
Katie, the kids, and I moved into my parents’ house, and my parents moved into a new and smaller home next door. We were able to live near each other and the church. We were all happy with the houses and arrangements and felt peace knowing we obeyed God. We were thankful we didn’t compromise on one of the fleeces and possibly miss out on God’s best. Following these principles allowed us to spend money wisely.
- Yuichi Shoda, Walter Mischel, Philip K. Peake, “Predicting Adolescent Cognitive and Self-Regulatory Competencies from Preschool Delay of Gratification: Identifying Diagnostic Conditions,” Developmental Psychology (1990), 26 (6): 978–986. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.26.6.978, archived from the original (PDF) on October 4, 2011. ↩︎
