Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules. I am severely afflicted; give me life, O Lord, according to your word! Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O Lord, and teach me your rules. I hold my life in my hand continually, but I do not forget your law.
Psalm 119:105-109
According to some, a weakness of my financial capability courses is that I am not specific about how much people should give to charity, how much to save and how much is too much to spend on a house, car, holiday or night out. Even if I were qualified to tell people how to live, I doubt they would thank me for trying to tell them, but I think that it is much better to develop a view of life that is not dictated by money, so that people can begin to work out things for themselves.
While I do not want to impose an arbitrary system of truth or practice, I do not wish to imply that rules are never helpful. A person tackling a weight problem will start by keeping careful track of the calories they consume in their food and burn off when they exercise. But in the absence of medical or other complications, this should be a transitory period during which they develop healthy eating and exercise habits that become a natural, fully integrated part of their lives. A person beginning to take control of their money will begin by accounting for every penny they get and spend but this should lead to healthy financial habits so that, over time, they do not have to budget so painstakingly.
Moreover, some rules are important, either for personal safety or so that communities can live together successfully: for example, the entirely natural ‘law’ that keeps us from driving a car too close to a cliff edge and the completely arbitrary one that dictates which side of a road we drive on. This is why we should never use money carelessly.
Finally, someone who wishes to play music must begin to learn their instrument the hard way, tediously practising scales and other people’s compositions. But, gradually, playing becomes more flowing and natural and, eventually, they will be able to play with freedom and begin to compose their own music. In a similar way, anyone - Christian or not - can progress towards handling money well within a broad appreciation of life.
A point I often make at the start of my courses is that I want people to end up thinking more about life than money; more about living than budgeting. More about God than money. That is true also of these Reflections, although this might not seem to be the case over the coming weekends, as we begin to explore the path away from a lifestyle centred on money. But the intention is to end up in a ‘wide place’, a new life of freedom.
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Copyright © All Souls Clubhouse Community Centre & Church and Philip Evans 2013.
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Handling money and dealing with debt can be complicated and neither the author nor anyone else involved in the production of these Reflections is responsible for any action you take, or fail to take, based on what is written here. You are invited to put a link on your website to these Reflections. You are welcome to copy these Reflections for personal study or for circulation to family and friends on a non-profit basis. For any other purpose, whether or not for profit, you will require written permission in advance from the author before copying, reproducing or transmitting extracts in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or using any information storage and retrieval system.
