Generational Goals – Finances

For some reason, every time Caleb and Chiara ask their Daddy for something, he tells them that I am the one with a lot of money. “Mommy has a lot of money,” he says to them, time and time again, secretly smiling at me rolling my eyes and shaking my head. On his just past birthday, as I was driving my bambinos to school, they shared with me all the ideas for presents they would bring home to their Daddy after their school day was out. During this conversation, Chiara said to her brother that she thought it would be best for them to buy their Daddy a hammer and a wrench. My practical thinking Caleb responded with concern that their piggy bank did not have enough coins to make the double purchase, as wonderful as the gesture would be. His sister didn’t skip a beat when she said, “Mommy has a lot of money, I’m sure she can help us.” Caleb asked me if this was true, hopeful that their plan would now work. My response was this, “I don’t have a lot of money. I have ‘some’ money but it’s not a whole lot.” We agreed that the money I did have would be enough to get the gift they planned and they went off to school that morning satisfied that their Daddy would have a wonderful birthday.

“A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.” ~ Proverbs 13:22

When it comes to financial goals, this verse is the target to aim for. I remember hearing this for the first time as an early teen and wondering if such a feat could be a reality for the average Zambian. Having been raised by a single mom and observing the gaps between financial struggle and financial abundance in my own extended family, let alone observations I made at school, I concluded that I wanted to be wealthy and because of this desire, I would work hard to attain it. I realised very quickly that plans without vision are silly, but yes, this misplaced ambition helped me get good grades in school, placing me on a career path I had no business attempting to pursue without consulting the Lord to whom I had surrendered my life. I assumed that the path to wealth was a straight line and I further assumed that this wealth had one purpose and one purpose alone, to make me comfortable. You’ll forgive me, I was young and foolish at the time.

After making a few submissive decisions before the Lord concerning my career path, I no longer had thoughts or desires about wealth for a while. My mind and heart were filled with the desire to serve and grow in my abilities to serve well. I can see now that the Lord used this space to cultivate in me a heart that was leaning towards Him before He could expose me again to the idea of financial abundance. Once He did open those channels of thought again, it was frustrating, I won’t lie. I was working full-time at a church and doing a few side businesses just to make ends meet as a new wife. The dreams God was placing on our hearts concerning our finances were beyond farfetched, they were painfully out of reach and it felt like He was low-key taunting us. But we continued to go in the direction He led. I remember the first time He asked us to pay a school registration fee for someone we knew and at the time, that fee was almost my entire month’s salary. Father Gad!! But we obeyed and have continued to obey, now almost eleven years later. We have yet to experience a time when obedience to God with our finances hasn’t caused some level of pain or sacrifice. That moment where it is neither here nor there when we obey, but we believe seeds are being planted and a majority of those seeds will only bring a harvest when our grandchildren have been born.

Sounds nice huh? But what does it take to have financial goals that leave a lasting legacy? What does it mean practically? Well, it means several things. Some we are still learning as we bob and weave some silly errors along the way. But the Holy Spirit is faithful to keep teaching us and giving us room to repent when we do blunder.

Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” ~ Matthew 6:21

Whilst on earth, Jesus kept trying to teach people that everything they did was connected to their hearts. In this verse, it’s almost as though He was giving them a way to reverse engineer what they had prior proclivity to give their affections to. He was simply saying that if we want our love for someone or something to grow, we must begin to channel our finances in that direction. Flip the coin and a quick assessment of what you love today can easily be done by checking what you spend your money on.

I think it’s safe to say that all of us want the generations coming behind us to be secure. In essence, we have a deep concern for them. But if we want this concern to grow into the kind of love that leaves a lasting financial legacy, we will need to make certain decisions today that will ripple into the future. Choosing how to use our money today and weighing what we want now against the vision we see for later will usher us into the realisation that momentary gratification pales in comparison to a legacy of financial security and generosity.

The inheritance mentioned in Proverbs 13 speaks of more than just money. It speaks also of the heart. The man described is said to be good, which hints at his heart being directed toward God. So, how does one whose heart is leaned toward God plot their financial goals?

Practising integrity with wealth

Having integrous habits with our money by no means denotes perfection, it means we consistently show up and decide to do what is right no matter who may or may not be watching. The catch here is, that if you have children, they are watching. Choosing to honour your bills on time, being open with your spouse about the family finances and rejecting corruption are some practical things we can do. Let me also just add here, that paying what is due to people providing a service or product without always asking for unjustified discounts also speaks to our integrity. Supporting other people’s businesses fully will train our hearts, and our children, to value and honour what others bring to the table and the marketplace.

Practising financial wisdom

Our God is a God of order and wisdom. There are many people He has gifted with wisdom to share with the world about how to handle finances practically. Subscribing, following, reading and engaging with such material is a great place to start, especially if this knowledge wasn’t passed down to us by our parents. Today it starts with us! Let’s commit to teaching our children the value of hard work, let’s save, demonstrate to them how to save too, and let’s invest, allowing these wise habits to trickle down to our children.

Partnering with God

Nothing of substance can be accomplished without us taking the pieces to God and allowing Him to breathe on them. One of the ways we go to God, seeking His life-giving breath over all our financial goals is by tithing. Trust is important to God. When He knows He can trust us with money, His blessings flow. More than just so our daily needs are met. More than just so we can give our children the life we never had. More than just so we can have a storehouse of wealth for generations that are coming behind us. Yes, God wants all these things for us, so much more than we can even think. Oh, but it’s bigger than that… God wants us, our hearts, our hands and our money to become beautifully moulded conduits of His love to His people. His heart. He wants to be able to trust you and your heirs with His heart, confidently knowing that when He calls on you to act, you will do so willingly and obediently without any reservations.

So while like me, you may not have “a lot” of money today, I challenge you to use whatever resources you have in a manner that honours God, assuring Him that He can trust you to be His vessel to practically demonstrate to your children the value, pitfalls and purpose of financial gain. May it be said, generations from now, that because of how we handle our finances, those after us have a new standard to live by.