Genesis and Matthew 32: Prepare

On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided. 

I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.

There is a lot to be said for preparedness. The person that does not do sound financial planning almost certainly ends up in trouble. The best financial advice that I have ever heard, goes like this:

Set aside 20% of your income. Always. 10% for charity, 10% for savings. And in fact, there is more to this in Deuteronomy, where it talks about the "food tithe." But the bottom line is: Spend less than you make, always, and you will never have trouble.

But the best way to make that work, is to make it your only practice, from the day you're born. Money management is the ultimate preparedness. In fact . . . the simple act of saving is perfect; it's a nearly ideal spiritual practice. Because it doesn't take any time to spend no money. It's the one most fruitful and productive thing you can do: the perfect paradigm of practice faith: Spend no money . . . i.e., do nothing with it . . . and you will receive it back many times over. 

That goes against the idea of cast your bread upon the waters . . . but before you do that, you have to have bread. And the best way to have bread is to keep it. 

Perhaps we focus too much on planning. Planning takes time, perhaps, valuable time. But think about it --- Planning itself has to do with a sense of scarce resources. Taken to its completion: saving money also saves time. The less money we spend, the less we have to plan . . . because planning is the result of scarce resources. 

The person of faith is not going to go around spending money, anyway. God says that He will provide. All we have to do is go. But as in the money illustration above, we always hesitate. We decide to go back and plan . . . yes, that's what I need to do. Let me be prudent, and then I'll go out and do the Lord's will. 

It is speaking to me this morning, as I contemplate an entire life of waiting for everything to line up just right. Just go . . . and if you're worried about resources, remember to spend less than you have. Always.