Don’t Fall into the Home Improvement Trap

Remember when the only home improvement show on prime time TV starred Tim Allen and had almost nothing to do with actual home repairs?

Now home improvement shows are everywhere—Extreme Home Makeover, Love It or List It and Curb Appeal are a few of the dozens of reality shows that let us watch people turn their “ordinary” houses into dream homes.

Reality TV to Real Life

This isn’t just entertaining television; it’s a way of life.

We spend hours surfing Pinterest for design ideas. We spend entire Saturday afternoons wandering the aisles of IKEA and Lowe’s. And we spend thousands of dollars turning our homes into miniature palaces.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Americans spent $130 billion on home improvement projects in 2013. Yes, that’s billion, with a “b.”

Necessary or Excessive?

I understand that many home improvement projects are absolutely necessary. A hole in the roof, for example, is not something you want to overlook. But we all know a good chunk of that $130 billion isn’t going toward roof repairs. It’s going toward one creature comfort after another until we no longer have a reason to leave the walls of our home.

When did home improvement in the United States become an obsession—and an idol?

I’m not here to determine what is a reasonable home repair for you and what’s excessive; I’m just asking you to think about it.

I’m not trying to tell you how much money to spend; just make sure it’s carefully budgeted like anything else.

I’m not looking to give you a guilt trip about how your living space ranks on a global scale. I am reminding you to be thankful.

Finding a Balance

It’s good to make our homes safe, clean, peaceful places where families can live and play and grow together.

It’s not good to make our homes into idols, where precious time, energy and money are taken away from the most important parts of life—our relationships with God and one another.

I’ll leave you with the words of 1 John 2:15-17 from The Message. These are words that continually challenge me. I hope they’ll do the same for you.

Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father.

Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him.

The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.

Sometimes my prayers sound like a heavenly To Do List for God. I fill in different names and circumstances depending on the day.

Oh, God, please heal _________ from _________.

Comfort _________, who is struggling with _________.

Keep _________ safe while he travels.

Show my skeptical friend, _________ that you love her.

Forgive me for _________.

I know I’m not the only one with a laundry list of prayer requests. And the Bible says we should pray for one another, so there is nothing wrong with asking God for those things.

There’s also nothing wrong with putting the list down from time to time and just being thankful for what God has already done.

The Thanksgiving season seems as good a time as any to do so.

If, like me, it’s been a while since you set the list aside (God already knows it better than you do, by the way) and just thanked Him, would you join me in offering a simple prayer of thanksgiving this season?

If we practice thankfulness, perhaps our prayer list will begin to look a little more like this:

Oh, God, thank you for the time you healed _________ from _________.

Thank you for comforting me when I was struggling with _________.

Thank you for all the times you’ve kept _________ safe while he traveled.

Thank you for loving my skeptical friend, _________, even if she doesn’t know it yet.

And thank you, thank you, thank you for allowing your own Son to die and come back to life, all so that I could be forgiven. You are amazing. In Jesus’ name, amen.

The FaithWorks Financial Team wishes you a happy and blessed Thanksgiving.

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Some messages just stick with you.

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Who is Your Foxhole Friend?

If battling debt is like war, who is your foxhole friend?

I’m talking about the one person who’s got your back in the fight for financial freedom. The person who will encourage you, hold you accountable, and tell you what you need to hear…not just what you want to hear.
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“Is the Lord here with us or not?”

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I’ll admit, I don’t typically spend a lot of time in the book of Exodus. But the other day I wound up there, and a particular story really struck me.

Just one month after God rescued the people of Israel from a life of slavery in Egypt, they were journeying through the wilderness and grumbling the whole way.

Have you ever prayed and prayed for God to give you something—or take something away—and when it finally happens, you rejoice for a whopping 24 hours before finding something else you’re dissatisfied about? Continue reading

Which of the following have you experienced?

A trip to the emergency room. A flat tire (or two). An unexpected, astronomical vet bill. Storm damage to your home. A broken appliance (not the toaster or the coffee maker…the refrigerator or the washing machine). A dead transmission. A notice that your rent is going up…a lot.

You may have personally dealt with one or two of these issues, or perhaps every single one of them. Either way, you know what they have in common: sticker shock. And if you don’t have a fully loaded emergency fund, you also know that awful feeling that can form in the pit of your stomach when you first set your eyes on an unexpected bill. Continue reading

May 1st is the National Day of Prayer in the United States. It’s a day for believers to pray for their local, state and national leaders. It’s also a great time to pray for financial peace—on a personal level and on a much larger scale.

1. Admit Your Own Financial Sin

The Bible says, “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them” (James 4:17, NIV). It’s impossible to out-give God. Whether you barely give at all or steadily contribute tithes and offerings, talk to God about areas where you’re holding back. Repent, and ask God to help you to be a faithful, cheerful giver. Continue reading