Last week we talked about discerning between ‘Needs’ & ‘Wants’ and then we discussed practically what constituted a ‘Need’. Today, I want to discuss how do we handle ‘Wants.’

Financial Lesson #2: What to do with Wants

I hear the term ‘blessed’ thrown around a lot amongst Christians and in Churches as it relates to financial well-being. I believe that is extremely unbiblical, and it gives us a false notion of how to handle our Wants. The fact that someone has a lot of money (say a brain surgeon) often has more to do with were they were born then any sort of ‘blessing.’ If anything, I believe God might be trying to use them to channel resources to those in need that he desperately cares about. Yet, instead we get to throw around this idea that God has ‘blessed’ us with good jobs and financial stability, thus shown by our big houses, fancy cars and expensive hobbies. That is not what I see modeled in the life of Jesus and the early church.

To clarify, a ‘want’ is something that is not necessary for you to live a productive and health life. They are things we can certainly go without, but have believed the lies of our culture (and commercials) and feel that we need. What we need to do is get honest with ourselves and make the distinction first of all. Then we can begin to discern an appropriate way to handle our wants as part of a global society.

“There is enough in the world for everyone’s need; there is not enough for everyone’s greed.” -Gandhi

Everyone has maxims and values that guide their lives to one degree or another. Yours might be ‘He who dies with the most toys, still dies.’ or maybe it’s ‘He who dies with the most toys wins.’ Whatever the case, I think making the distinction and then categorizing accordingly is an important step. This is where our budget differs from others.

Some people have budgets that commonly have categories such as: entertainment,  recreation, travel, eating out, and others. I’m okay with making distinctions between these things, but they should fit into a bigger category of Wants. For our budget, we lump all of these into something called ‘fun money.’ Fun money is not extra in addition to all your other ‘wants’ it is the category from which you fulfill your wants. In some ways it’s a lot of fun because it’s like having a weekly allowance, but unlike when you were a kid, you get to choose how big it is. There is a lot of wonderful lessons that can come from a clear understanding of ‘wants’ and ‘needs.’

When you divide wants and needs and clearly articulate what things are simply ‘wants’ you start to have a great appreciation for those things. You also learn to make choices. Once you choose your alloted fun money, you start having to choose between dinner out, a couple lattes, or saving for that camping trip. Which ever one you choose you recognize that it is not a given and that there is a trade off in fulfilling that want. I might share some stories related to this later in the week, but I’ll leave you with this today.

The ability to fulfill your desire for things you ‘want’ is a luxury of a privileged few in this world; make no mistake, you are participating in something others only dream of. 

Tomorrow: I could have saved one more…