Financial Margins
Financial Margins
Tuesday March 6, 2018
It is a fact that most people wish they had more money. Do you wish you had more money? Let me ask you a better question, why don’t you have more money? The answer for most people is because they have no financial margins. A “financial margin” is the money that is left over from your financial resources after you have paid all of your expenses. If your earnings and your expenditures are equal, you lack financial margin. And if what you spend is more than what you earn, you lack financial margin.
According to the Washington Post, 27% of Americans who earn between $40,000 to $100,000 said they could not come up with $400.00 in case of an emergency, not even with a credit card. According to Forbes, 63% of Americans do not have enough to come up with $500.00 in case of an emergency. 10% of Americans consume 100% of their income and spend 50% more than they make. This means that at least 60% of Americans have no financial margin. They either live at or above their means.
Lacking financial margin is a big problem because it:
- causes constant stress
- adversely impacts your emotional and physical well-being
- adversely impacts all of your relationships, including your relationship with God.
- causes you to steal from God.
- Causes you to close the door to God’s financial blessings in your life.
“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me.” – Malachi 3: 8-9 NIV
In the Old Testament, the nation of Israel was going through some tough times. It appears they did not correlate the loss of God’s blessings with their behavior. They had ignored or not noticed that they were stealing from God. In essence, they had stopped trusting God. It might be easier to grasp this principle from a New Testament point of view. Consider the time when Jesus said to a group of people who were financially stressed out” “But seek ye FIRST his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Losing God’s blessings is often times the result of living without financial margins. Since your Heavenly Father understands the financial pressures of this world, he challenges us:
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” – Malachi 3:10 NIV
The first step towards creating financial margins is to TRUST God and to give him what belongs to him. Because, giving causes two things to happen, first it breaks the financial bad habits that have caused you to live without financial margins, and second, it is an act of trusting God and this opens the floodgates of God’s financial blessings for your life.
QUESTIONS
- Would you like you have more money? Why don’t you have more money? Is it possibly because you lack financial margins?
- Do you consume 100% or more of your income?
- According to God’s word in Malachi 3:8-9, are you stealing from God? Why or why not?
- According to Jesus in Matthew 6:33, are you seeking God’s kingdom before your kingdom? Why or why not?
- What steps can you take that will lead you to begin creating financial margins in your life?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, I have lived my life without financial margins, I have consumed more than I should, I have not fully trusted you, and at times I have even stolen from you, by not first giving to you what belongs to you. I ask for your forgiveness, and I ask that you would continue to speak to me so that I can order my life according to your word. Thank you for your provision, help me to be diligent and to apply these teachings to my life, I pray you would bless my finances as I seek first your kingdom; in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
