Read: Luke 14:28-30
When my husband and I first married ten years ago, every single penny was counted. We were on our own for the first time, newly out of college and truly independent from our parents. Our checkbook was always balanced. Every purchase was debated and every buying decision was weighed, be it a package of meat at the grocery store or even an ironing board, something I once saw as a frivolous expenditure. (“I can just iron on the kitchen counters… it’s worked so far!”)
What leaves many of us as we grow more financially successful and secure is that sensitivity, that caution. We let purchases sneak in and our financial record keeping slide. We begin to morph what we see as a “want” versus a “need.” Many of us become careless. Whether or not it harms us or leads us into debt or bankruptcy is beside the point. We take things for granted and sometimes become blind to the needs of others.
Financial planning needs sensitivity. Money and its place in our lives is not something to be taken lightly, to be given just a fleeting thought. How and where we spend our money shows where our affections lie. Let’s not become so insensitive that we make a huge financial blunder like the guy Jesus described in Luke 14:28-30:
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’”
