Do You Pray First?
Wednesday, December 2, 2009 at 8:16AM MAD21 By Heather (Balance with Purpose)
I’ve been thinking about greed lately and how many decisions we base on our desire for money or our fear of letting it go. Being raised in a country where materialism is engrained in us from birth, I struggle with keeping faith at the forefront of my financial decision making.
In this age of high unemployment and rising costs of living, we are faced with financial decisions every single day. How many of those decisions do you take to prayer? Do you pray about the groceries you need to purchase? Do you pray about a large home repair like a leaky roof? What about the Christmas presents you hope to buy this month?
Do you pray about the tiny purchases and expenses, or do you save praying to God for the really big ones.
What about job changes? Do you let faith and prayer lead you to the right decision, or do you base that decision solely on income you think you need?
We’ve all heard the quote, “Money is the root of all evil,” right? Well, you might also know that this is a misquote of 1 Timothy Verse 10 which says, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
For me the above verse says that money can lead to certain kinds of evil. I fear the part of the verse that says people who are excited and impatient for money have wandered from faith. Wandering from faith leads to many problems according to scripture.
Despite our varying degrees of wealth or lack of, we all face daily money decisions. I would hate to have even one poor decision lead to a departure from faith or to increased “griefs.”
Has greed ever caused you to wander from your faith? How do you avoid allowing greed to lead you in your decision making?
Heather Sunseri is a Christian, wife and mother of two young children. She has worked as a CPA for the past 15 years for thoroughbred horse farms and in public accounting in Central Kentucky. She spends her free time as an inspirational writer and enjoys the little things in life from long bike rides in the country to homemade pizza and family game night.
Reader Comments (1)
I wish I could say we pray before we spend. I do while I'm working on our family's budget, but sadly, unless it's an unusual purchase (an expensive one), I'm probably guilty of just going and buying when there is a need or desire.
It's one reason I choose to stay away from stores in general unless we need something specific.
Thanks, Heather!