Alycia and I just finished our third week of Financial Peace University. This week’s lesson was all about budgeting and telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.
There are a lot of places I’d like to tell our money where to go. There are a lot of nice things I’d like to own.
I visit some websites that run special deals for certain items over the course of a few days. Depending on the day, there are deals for clothing, toys, luggage, watches, jewelry and sunglasses. Deal, though, is a somewhat relative term. I was looking at some watches and I could have bought a $2,800 watch for $1,399. That’s 50% off but still not much of a deal.
I was telling Alycia how someday it would be nice to be able to just buy a watch like that, to see a good deal on a really nice watch, and throw down $1,500 to purchase it. I like watches and I like sunglasses and I wouldn’t mind having really nice watches and sunglasses.
Alycia is a much better person than I am, though. She said she’d much rather spend that money on something like a well for people without access to clean water. If I ever did buy a $1,500 watch, every time I wore it, I would be reminded that I spent a large sum of money on myself instead of thinking about others first.
Looking around our apartment, though, I realize that there are a lot of reminders that I spent money on myself instead of thinking about others first. I’ve got books, video game systems, movies, sunglasses, watches, shoes and more clothes than necessary.
How can I reconcile having nice things when so many in the world go without the basic and necessary things?
Is it wrong to have a nice watch?
Is it wrong to have a big TV?
Is it wrong to have an Xbox One and/or a PS4?
Financial Peace University is great. Not only does the class seek to change behavior, but it also gets at the heart behind the behavior. If I could, I would spend all of my money on shoes, watches and sunglasses. Living within a budget helps curtail that behavior and I’m hoping that God will also work on my heart. I’m hoping that God will transform my heart so I can see that the nicest things are those that further God’s kingdom.
How do you reconcile having nice things when so many in the world go without basic and necessary things?
This is an updated version of a post I wrote almost two years ago. It seemed relevant to what I’m learning in FPU as well as a lesson God keeps teaching me.
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