Should You Go at It Alone?
Money is a powerful, yet dangerous tool. If stewarded well, it can be used to fund great, eternal purposes, but it can just as easily lead to false idols. Through community and accountability in our personal financial situation we can break the power of money over our lives and better direct our wealth for kingdom purposes.
All Christian life needs community
Western culture has valued individualistic practices and values opposed to the collective, but we were actually wired for community - deep community. We can see through the triune nature of God, that he has always lived in community. The Father, Son, and Spirit have been in community with each other, loving each other, from eternity past.
Then throughout scriptures, we can see that we were created for this similar type of community.
"Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety."
Paul's letters throughout the new testament are filled with "one another"s. We are made to care for one another and be involved in each other's lives as believers.
Even neuroscience has studies supporting this design for community that we find in scripture. In John T. Cacioppo's (a social neuroscientist at the University of Chicago) book, Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection, he describes how the feeling of rejection or loneliness is the same region of the brain that registers the pain of stepping on a Lego.
In Christian community we share our life's troubles and struggles with one another and receive encouragement in the gospel from our fellow believers, but, for some reason, money has become a taboo subject even in these intimate settings. We need to bring community into all areas of our life including how we use our wealth.
Without community, wealth is dangerous
With great power comes great responsibility. Wealth is very powerful. You can think of it like fire. It can be extremely useful and good, but it also can hurt and burn when it is out of control or used incorrectly.
The dangers of wealth fall into two categories: financial and relational.
Financial dangers
Mistakes in handling your money can have significant lifelong impacts, and unfortunately, most of us do not have the tools or insights to know the full impact of our financial decisions.
For example, you may forget to pay a medical bill and consequently it goes into collections. It’s common enough for you to miss notices and calls mentioning the status of your bill. Even if the bill is small, it now has an impact on your credit score.
Then, if you're making any large purchases with a loan (a home or car) you're going to get a higher interest rate, and pay significantly more for it over the lifetime of the loan. Because of that, you're going to have less money to save (while you pay down your loan) putting you behind in investing. Due to compounding growth, it becomes exponentially harder to make up the later you start investing & saving.
A relatively small slip-up can have a significant impact over time, and it’s very hard to fully see or understand the full impact a financial decision, or indecision, will have on your situation.
There are hundreds of these small misstep examples we could go through but here are just a few:
Not having enough insurance
Being too conservative in your investments
Taking too large a loan (home mortgage, student loans, business loans)
Not staying invested when the market falls
Not listing a beneficiary on your accounts
Not having a will
The list goes on and on.
Relational dangers
While this type of danger can have a significant impact on your life, this type is more dangerous. Warnings are found throughout scripture about our relationship to our wealth.
As our focus becomes developing financial independent or comfort in our finances, we don't see that we've created less dependence on God and His providence. When we feel in control of our financial situation, we can forget our need and dependence on God.
What should we do?
As you've probably guessed, one way to use wealth wisely and protect against the dangers is do invite community into your financial life.
If you're married, an easy place to start is with your spouse. Finances are one of the leading points of conflict in marriages, and, because of that, it can be easy to avoid conversation on your money in your marriage. Set up a structured time each week or month to go through your finances together. Here is a good list of pre-defined questions you can ask each other.
You don't need to post about your personal financial situation on your Facebook page, but it is not enough to only share with only one other person. I would encourage a small group of 3-5 people to share openly with each other.
In your conversations, you can focus a lot on the relational side of money and the indicators that come from how you’re using it. The conversations in the group should point back to the fact that God owns it all, we are to be generous and open-handed with what He has entrusted us with, and God is the one that provides (not ourselves).
Similar to structuring time with your spouse, adding structure to your small group meetings will make it easier to start and share openly. In a video from Generous Giving, an organization that helps Christians Explore the Joy of Generosity, you can see how Greg (Co-Author of God and Money) and Alison Baumer have a small group to discuss their finances together.
One way that you can add to your "abundance of counselors" is to work with a Christian Financial Advisor.
This would be someone who not only brings knowledge to your personal finances, but biblical wisdom. There’s quite a bit of research that shows the quantifiable value to using a financial advisor opposed to attempting your financial planning on your own.
You may know some Christians that are financial advisors, but their help may not specifically reflect biblical advise. Advisors that belong to the Christian Financial Advisors Network have training on biblical wisdom regarding finances (as Certified Kingdom Advisors™) and are held to a fiduciary standard working as fee-only advisors that won’t sell you anything with a commission.
You can find a Christian financial advisor, here, to help be your co-steward in your financial journey.
Conclusion
While it may seem easier to go at it alone, we were created for much more. Human flourishing, as it was designed by The Creator, encompasses actively avoiding isolation in order to increase our love for our Savior and decrease our love of self. "He must increase, but I must decrease." John 3:30
