A Line in the Sand: Financial Finish Lines and Contentment

Visualize a story with me.

You are a few years into your career. Money is tighter than you would like, but God is providing. You are paying the bills, building a little margin, and learning what it looks like to make wise decisions with what you have.

Then, slowly, things start to change. Income rises (either slowly or more quickly). Life gets a little more comfortable. You upgrade a few things here or there. You sign up for the streaming services you used to share passwords for. You stop checking the bank app as often. You breathe a little easier.

And without ever saying it out loud, a new assumption sneaks in: when income rises, lifestyle rises. Otherwise termed: Lifestyle creep.

It’s normal. It’s common. But it’s also one of the most spiritually significant “default settings” in our life, because it quietly teaches our hearts what we will depend on.

How can we adjust from this “default setting” to something more spiritually significant? Financial finish lines. 

What is a financial finish line?

The hope of a financial finish line is to find freedom from the constant connection between your income (or assets) and your consumption (your lifestyle). Scripture gives at least two reasons for this.

First, in Ecclesiastes we’re told: those who love money will never be satisfied with it, and those who love wealth will never be satisfied with their income (Ecclesiastes 5:10). If satisfaction is always “a little more,” then “a little more” becomes a treadmill.

Second, in one of my favorite sections of scripture about generosity we are told that: “You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way…” (2 Corinthians 9:11). 

That is not a verse about guilt. It is a verse about purpose. We are given a new direction and purpose for the increase of resources that we receive from our God. It is he who gives us all things and thus he who should give the purpose to the resources he gave to us. 

A finish line is a prayerful, intentional line in the sand that says: By God’s grace, my lifestyle does not have to increase at the same rate my income increases. I want to break that connection so I can be more free to obey God when He calls me to generosity.

“Finish lines are for someone richer than me”

One of the most common reactions I hear around financial finish lines is that “This sounds like something other people do. People who make a lot more than me.”

I understand why it feels that way, but biblical principles are not reserved for the top 1%. The love of money does not only show up in those with abundance. It just expresses itself differently depending on what we have. For some, it’s the pride of self-reliance. For others, it is the anxiety of never having enough—longing for more than what they have now. Or for many, it's comparison, living life through the lens of what people around us have, rather than through the lens of Scripture.

In other words, the finish line conversation is not mainly about how much you have. It is about what your heart believes will finally make you secure.

A Biblical Framework

When I think about financial finish lines biblically, I like to hold three passages side by side. Not because they are a formula, but because together they give a clear direction.

1) “Give me neither poverty nor riches” (Proverbs 30:8-9)

“...give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.”

This prayer is honest. It acknowledges the dangers on both ends. It is not romanticizing hardship, and it is not chasing excess. It is saying, “Lord, give me what is fitting for me.” This does something that our culture almost never does. It treats “enough” as a good gift. Not “enough for now, until I level up.” Just: enough. That is a radically freeing category when you let it settle into your bones.

2) “Enriched…to be generous” (2 Corinthians 9:11)

“You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.”

If God gives increased resources, and Scripture explicitly connects that increase to generosity (2 Corinthians 9:11), then it is reasonable to ask a disruptive question:

What if God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving? 

That question was pressed into my heart in a Journey of Generosity event, and it has stayed with me. The stories from the videos we watched in the JOG were not motivated by obligation. They were marked by joy. They were not trying to prove something. They had simply decided, on purpose, that “more” would not automatically mean “more for me.”  

3) “Take hold of that which is truly life” (1 Timothy 6:17-19)

“As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.  They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.”

Paul’s instruction to the wealthy is not, “Be ashamed.” It is, “Do not set your hope on the uncertainty of riches.” Then he gives the alternative to setting your hope in riches: hope in God, be rich in good works, be generous and ready to share.

And the result?

Not merely that others benefit from your generosity, though they are, but it says we store up treasure as a good foundation for the future, “so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.”

That is the heart of why this matters. Financial finish lines are not a trendy hack. They are a discipleship pathway that helps your heart practice where your hope really is.

The gravitational pull of lifestyle creep

Here is something I have become more convinced of over time: most of us do not naturally think about our financial lives through the lens of Scripture. We think about them through the lens of what we see with the people around us. Lifestyle creep doesn’t ever feel like an instant significant event; it is like a slow gravitational pull that happens over time. Year to year you don’t notice it, but decade by decade you are shocked by the impact. 

Could you live on the income from the first few years of your career? God provided for you then. You found a way. You adjusted. You made it. And hopefully, you depended on God during that time, but as comfort sets in, do you still depend on God as you did back then? Or do you depend on job security and having a full emergency fund? 

Over time, what used to be a want can quietly become a “need,” and then we start to depend on income and lifestyle to sustain us emotionally. Yet one of the most consistent invitations in Scripture is dependence on God.

That is why contentment sits at the center of this conversation (Philippians 4:11-13, Hebrews 13:5, 1 Timothy 6:6-10). Generosity often follows contentment, because a content heart is less anxious about what it might lose and has a clear picture of what you truly “own.”

What does a finish line look like in real life?

There is not one “right” finish line. People are in different seasons, with different callings, responsibilities, and burdens. A finish line should never become a badge of honor or a simplistic rule you impose on everyone else. It is what is what is prayerfully determined for your situation.

But there are a few categories that can help almost anyone get started.

1) An income finish line (most common)

This is the classic: you cap your lifestyle at a certain level, and when income rises beyond that, you decide ahead of time where the excess goes.

Important note: setting the finish line before you reach it is often the point. If you wait until you “feel rich,” you’ll always have excuses for putting it off.

A finish line can also be flexible without being vague. Inflation changes things. Family size changes things. Seasons change things. The goal is to break the automatic link between income and consumption.

2) An asset finish line (less common, more planning)

Some families want to say, “We have enough.” With a planner, you can project how much is needed to fund your goals with a reasonable buffer, and then treat “excess” above that as something to intentionally give away over time. This often takes more modeling, more humility about assumptions, and more patience. But it can be a good picture of what it looks like to not store up riches in bigger barns (Luke 12:16-21).

3) A windfall finish line (available to almost everyone)

This is the easiest one to implement quickly, and often the most relevant before an income finish line ever kicks in. Decide ahead of time what you will do with the unexpected: a bonus, a gift, an inheritance, a business payout, a tax refund, a vesting event.

For any of these it does not have to be “give away all of it.” The aim is the same: break the connection between unexpected increase and immediate consumption.

A simple approach could be something like:

• A percentage toward generosity

• A percentage toward debt payoff or savings goals

• A percentage toward something enjoyable and planned

Again, the point is not legalism. The point is intentionality.

Where financial planning fits, and where it does not

As a financial planner, I love running the numbers, building projections, and helping families see what is wise and sustainable over a lifetime. Many times, we can back into savings ranges that are needed for your actual goals. And believe it or not, you can “save too much” if you do not have a clear purpose for what you are saving toward. That would be a clear picture for creating a financial finish line. 

But I want to be careful here: a finish line is not mainly a math problem. It is primarily a spiritual decision that should be made in prayer. Financial planning can help answer, “What is reasonable?” It can help you build guardrails so you aren’t unwise in your planning. But it cannot replace the question, “Lord, what are you calling us to do with what you have entrusted to us?”

A word to the wealthy

There are many believers God has entrusted with significant resources, and many more who have the capacity to grow businesses or grow income over time. There is not something inherently bad with this. It is the Lord who has given to you the ability and skills to grow your resources. 

What Scripture insists on is that our minds must be renewed, because the world constantly catechizes us into self-focus (Romans 12:2). It is God who gives ability, opportunity, relationships, and favor. And when He entrusts resources, He also entrusts opportunity to support eternal purposes.

If this is a category you want to think more deeply about, John Reinhardt’s book Gospel Patrons is a helpful lens on how generosity and mission can intertwine over a lifetime.  

Guarding your heart

Any “spiritual discipline” can become a platform for self-righteousness. You can set a finish line and start to feel like you have arrived. You can subtly become “the generous one” and that becomes where you find your identity.

One of the healthiest safeguards I have seen is community. Talk through these decisions with trusted believers. 

• Maybe just another couple who will ask honest questions. 

• Maybe a small group where wisdom and discretion are present. 

• Maybe a Christian financial planner who can hold you accountable, not as a hall monitor, but as a coach and fellow steward.

We need relationships that help us stay humble, stay joyful, and stay honest.

An invitation

If you have never considered a financial finish line, here is a simple next step.

Set aside time to pray. Open Scripture. Put Proverbs 30:8-9, 2 Corinthians 9:11, and 1 Timothy 6:17-19 in front of you. Ask God to search you (Psalm 139:23-24). Then ask a few practical questions:

• Where has lifestyle creep quietly become my plan?

• What would “enough” look like in this season?

• If God increased my resources, where would I want that increase to go?

• What would it look like for my next step to move toward generosity instead of consumption?

I have watched enough stories to say this with confidence: when people set finish lines out of joy, not obligation, it makes their lives feel lighter. And in a world that constantly trains us to chase “more,” choosing contentment and generosity is one of the clearest ways to say, with your money, “My hope is not here.”

If you would like help thinking through what a finish line could look like in your specific season, reach out to a Christian advisor here at CFAN and we would be glad to help you prayerfully apply these principles with wisdom and clarity.

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