Financial Freedom or Freefall
by Financial crisis prevention and wisdom, following the outline of John Wesley from the 1700s. His challenge that I pass from him to you is that you “Earn all you can. Save all you can. And give all you can”.
I realized this week that if I am going to survive financially I need to change some things in my life, right now.
I admit it’s hard for me to imagine how I’ll earn or save more money. I don’t make a lot of money and I already work too many hours. Employment is down around our country and the options seem few.
I’ve been contemplating what I must do. In my contemplation I’ve concluded some things I suspect you will appreciate me sharing.
John Wesley on Giving wrote “Serving God with Mammon (money) requires that you earn all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.” These are the principals I believe will financially save those who are tough enough to follow them.
Earn All You Can
I did a quick evaluation of what I would have to do to earn more money. I am a minister and before concerns about a recession came about, our church worked hard to remain debt free. Because of being debt free, we will be able to help people when other churches have no resources left.
To help keep the church out of debt I’ve taken very little pay. It will be the survival of the church but the job can easily reach more then 40 hours a week. So, I don’t right now have a lot of extra time. I have to start by making hard choices about what not to do. This is hard in ministry because everything seems so important.
I decided to invite my church into the process. It is also a valuable process for organizations to cut back. So as a church we have talked about “what we should not be doing?”
This process has helped to narrow down those things that may eat time, money, personnel and property. To cut back in all those things frees the church up for better ministry and also helps me as the leader. I will now have fewer things I need to cut out.
How are we going to earn more money? With employment being low, where are those money earning opportunities?
One of the things I will emphasis again and again in this article is, “it’s not time to get comfortable.” You are not looking for the job that best fits your comfortable life. You will not find that kind of job in this economy.
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