I once heard a pastor say that you can be frugal with your money and still be not truly "frugal" anyway. I didn't really understand that phrase until a few weeks ago, and then the idea seemed to jump out at me when I finally did. It was literally like an “aha! moment.”
Around the time that Mel and I began considering writing this blog, my family and I started reading a chapter from the book of Proverbs every day. As we have been on this little journey, I have realized just how much Proverbs speaks on every area of life: including (of course) frugality. I think we all know there are lots of passages that speak about money in general, but Proverbs, I have come to note, also contains many verses that quite easily and directly relate to our venture in The Frugal Friends Network. I think it is a good idea therefore, before we really get things going here, to set our minds aright, aligning ourselves with Biblical truth as it relates to our goals in frugality.
*Note this is by no means an exhaustive list, but maybe as we go I’ll add things from time to time and re-post this another day. We’ll see.
Proverbs 20:13 Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.
To me this says that it takes hard work and determination, but even under difficult circumstances, we will be provided our food if we are willing to work for it. Being frugal takes diligence. We can’t just wake up and expect it to be good at it, but if we do our best, God will bless our efforts.
Proverbs 20:21 An inheritance gained hastily in the beginning will not be blessed in the end.
If you have ever heard of Dave Ramsey, this verse reminds me of his popular phrase, “Live like no one else, so later you can live like no one else.” As young families (I’m assuming many of us are), we shouldn’t think that we can ‘have it all’ like some of our parents and grandparents today. It takes time, effort, patience, and diligence to build our house(s), financially speaking.
Proverbs 21: 3 To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
Let’s be honest, some of this frugality stuff (read: coupons, looking for sales, etc.) may take a lot of time – time away from my family - if I let it. Am I willing to sacrifice my family for the sake of a dollar or two? Ladies, the just, righteous thing to be focused on is loving and caring for our husbands and children first. If couponing, garage sales, or other things take so much of our time and effort that we have nothing left to give our families, where is being frugal leading us? That said, I do think it’s worth it to spend a good portion of time on these things, but if it eats up my family life, I need to take a second look at what I’m doing and why.
Proverbs 21: 4, 5 Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin. The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.
Okay so it’s time to confess. Personally, there are times when I get SO excited that I found a good deal. It can literally make.my.day. It can also get me pretty upset if I think I have something straight and it doesn’t work out, or when the cashier at the grocery store is rude to me just because I have coupons. Now, I don’t think getting excited about a deal is in and of itself a bad thing, but honestly, there are times when frugality becomes and idol in my life. I can feel puffed up and soooo proud of myself because I found a good deal. I have really been convicted to pray over all I am doing, thanking God for his gracious and merciful provision, and repenting for any attitudes that are not Godly. It’s also a good time to practice patience and love for others when I do get that cranky cashier who doesn’t want to deal w/ me and my coupons.
Dear Heavenly Father,
You are so kind to us. Thank you for teaching us from your word today. Thank you too, for teaching me the true heart behind frugality – that it’s not about me and my plans, but it’s about humility, grace, patience, hard work, and love for others. Lord, thank you for convicting me of the ways that I can turn this endeavor into something it shouldn’t be. I ask your forgiveness for those times when I make this an idol in my life. I ask for your forgiveness also for when I let myself get bogged down by the work that this takes sometimes. Please remind me why I do what I do, and that ultimately, Father it’s for you. May I learn to work heartily, remembering it is for you, Lord. Thank you for setting my heart aright. In Jesus name I pray, amen.
Thanks for posting, Naomi! Good thoughts...esp. Prov 20:21...I've been thinking about that type of thing lately as we have a house of our own now. It's easy to want to fill it with all the things a house should have, but honestly, we don't have the money for that right now nor do we really need all those things yet. Some very good food for thought. Frugality is about blessing our families, not seeing how many material things we can acquire with the least amount of money possible.
ReplyDeleteI struggle w/ that sometimes, too Mel. I have to remind myself how good we have it though. I think it's a very human tendency. I often see Samuel excited about something new, and then a while later he isn't so grateful for one reason or another. It bothers me sometimes, until I realize I'm not very different. God sure uses our children to teach us a lot about ourselves.
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