DAY 6

INTEGRITY IN FINANCES

How we use money reveals what we believe about money.

Larry Burkett, Crown’s founder, liked to say, “We each write our autobiography with our financial choices.”

Satan will use money to test our integrity in large and small ways. If he can gain a small victory, he will use that open door to offer larger opportunities to do his work. We must learn to maintain a personal policy of not compromising our integrity.

A person of integrity is a person whose character is integrated, whole, undivided.

The Bible is full of promises for those who practice absolute integrity. Cling to these promises instead of to money if you desire to enjoy a blessed life of peace and rich relationships with God, family, and friends.

The way you use your money is directly correlated to what you believe about God. That’s why having a budget is such an integral piece of every steward’s life. It’s part of your testimony!

Did you know that you’ve almost finished building a budget?

By now, you should know your monthly net spendable income, your spending categories, and about how much you’ve spent in each over the last few weeks or months.

All that’s left is to set your budget going forward and put a system in place to follow it. Using your estimated categories from yesterday, set an amount to spend in each going forward. Remember that your monthly expenses need to be less than or equal to your monthly income, including giving, saving, and debt-payoff.

If you have some extra money left after allocating all the categories, put the remainder in giving, savings or miscellaneous. Each month is different and it’s good to plan for the unexpected. If you don’t have enough money to cover all your categories, look for ways to cut back on your spending.

Then get into the habit of tracking your spending and placing every purchase in a category. I like using a budgeting app that connects to my bank account. You can do the same, use the worksheets in your 30 Day Snapshot, or use a spreadsheet and keep track of all your receipts. Find a system that works for you and stick with it.

Congratulations! You now have a budget!

Today's action item:

Using your estimated categories from yesterday, set an amount to spend in each category going forward. Remember that your monthly expenses need to be less than or equal to your monthly income, including giving, saving, and debt-payoff.

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