“I’m Broke”

A comment has breached my lips more times than I can even count over the last couple of months.

”Well I’m broke now, so…”

Fill in the rest with any variation you can imagine. I’m sure I’ve said it.

It feels true, comparing to what I used to make in my last job. I have felt justified in every instance that I’ve blurted it out in conversation.

What’s interesting is that I felt like I was at the bottom of the chain at my last job, too. I came in at the “baseline” salary, yet that’s still almost twice as much as I make now.

What’s even more interesting is that I can live off of my new salary just fine. It’s just not the living that I’m used too. I’m realizing how many things I spent my money on that were excessive.

I.E. eating lunch out every single day, getting multiple margaritas a week [Texas y’all], chipping in for a lake house a few times throughout the summer.

The reality is that my spending shifts to the max of my income.

No, that doesn’t mean I’m living a boring life now. It means that all the “wants” that I think I need tend to build up as my income grows.

It means game nights in with a bag of popcorn instead of going out to dinner. It means going to bingo night at a pub, using a gift card that I won from the previous bingo night. It means going to the annual chicken lighting ceremony in the town square [it’s odd, I know].

In the 8 weeks I’ve been in Georgia, I’ve eating out less times than I would have in a week in San Antonio.

Why? Because I could afford to do that then.

Was that a need? Definitely not.

Is my standard of living lower than before? Nope.

My spending in living is lower.

I’m not saying we can’t have fun. I’m asking us to evaluate where our money goes. 

I listened to a podcast that forced me to evaluate my perception of greed and money. It convicted me to think through all of these things.

He talked about numerous things, but the whole premise was geared around the idea of investing our money in Kingdom. Because the reality is that:
1. It isn’t our money in the first place, it’s God’s
2. To say we can’t afford it isn’t the answer. The poor widow gave her two coins, which was everything she had [Mark 12:41-44]
3. We gain rewards in heaven directly correlating to Kingdom giving [Matthew 6:2-4; Philippians 4:15-19]

And those are just a few realities.

I could go on and dig deeper into all of these topics, but it isn’t necessary. It’s simple.

Let’s invest in Kingdom.