Serving Bread

After having established the value of “gaining,” John Wesley (in his sermon titled, “The Use of Money“) encouraged his listeners to save all they can. Though many people speak about saving money, reality tells us that we fail at this exercise. Our saving rate is in the negative territory. (In fact, it dipped in the negative back in 2005, which was the first time that had happened since the Great Depression. The warning signs for this economic downturn were visible during those “years of plenty.”) Wesley’s exhortations and methods of saving money are refreshing in light of our poor discipline in this area.

Wesley believed that saving money is an important element of a person’s financial stewardship. Though Wesley titles this portion “Save all you can,” what he is really teaching is how to spend money. Like the first part of his sermon, Wesley provides guidelines for saving (and spending):

1. Saving is the opposite of spending. How we spend our money is a reflection of our values and priorities, and Wesley draws an interesting contrast pitting saving and spending against one another. Though it seems like it is common sense that saving is the opposite of spending, I find myself thinking of saving as a percentage of my budget and spending as another (larger) percentage. In other words, I don’t operate with the mentality that every penny spent is a penny not saved.
2. Don’t spend your money on “the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eye, or the pride of life.” Wesley goes so far as to repudiate luxuries and encourage his flock to be content with “what plain nature requires.” Though that view may be somewhat extreme, I think that Wesley offers a corrective. I find it important (and life-giving) to enjoy some luxuries some of the time. But the mistake that many of us make is that rather than make that a rare occasion, the luxuries of our lives become a more prevalent part of our lives.Second, Wesley warns us from spending money on the desire of the eye. My friends are the best marketers. I want what they have. My eye deceives me to never be content with what I have.

   Third, Wesley recognizes that we often spend money to project a certain image. He reminds us “to be content with the honor that comes from God.”

3. Don’t spend money on your children. We may incorporate certain values in our life for how we spend and save our money, but that may not extend to the next generation. I am often amazed at how much (unnecessary) money I can spend on my children. I get caught up in buying toys and candy and clothes as a way to express my love toward them (gift-giving is one of my love languages). Though it’s fine to buy those things on occasion, I wonder if the value that I am communicating is “impulsive buying” rather than stewardship.

Spending is the anti-thesis of saving. Our savings rate will go up if we just spend less and put better guidelines on how to spend our money. A budget is the easiest way to put reigns on our money, but even within our budgets, we need to develop a strategy for saving.

Here are some practical things we do as a family:

1. What are we saving for? Years ago, we were facing an expense that required us to tap our savings account. My wife thought that was the biggest financial sin anyone can commit. She had grown up with the idea that you never touch your savings. Actually, when you save with a purpose, you should touch that account if the money is going to be used for the purpose it was set up. We now have  a spreadsheet with various things we’d love to have in the coming years (i.e. we will probably be needing to replace one of our vehicles in the next 3 to 5 years). And we have calculated how much we need to save each month toward that goal.
2. We save on the first of the month. The first thing I do when we are paid is to put a percentage of the money in savings. Rather than wait for the end of the month and see what’s left over, I consider savings as my first expense of the month.
3. We save for our anticipated expenses. We budget each month and set aside all of the irregular expenses we anticipate. These include insurance premiums, property taxes, Christmas gifts, clothing, and vacation.
4. We save at banks that offer higher-yielding interest rates. Thank you ING Direct.
5. We save some of our giving. That’s right. Some of the money that is earmarked as part of our giving, we actually save. We do this for a couple of reasons: 1. We want to be generous at key moments. For example, when we get letters from people going on short-term missions, we would like to be able to offer more than just what our monthly budget allows; 2. We want the compound interest to increase our giving power.

American-style capitalism relies on consumers spending their money. You don’t hear too many policy leaders encouraging us to save because consumption drives the economy. (Maybe there is some silver lining that Americans are not buying as many cars as the auto industry would like) Faithfulness to biblical principles would have us put stricter reigns on our giving and more emphasis on our saving.