208
- impulse spending
- careless budgeting
- living beyond one’s means
- credit problems
- chronically borrowing from friends
- ineffectual savings plans
- working more to pay all the bills
- enabling others
God intended for money to be a blessing to us and others:
“Give, and it will be given to you” (Luke 6:38). In fact, the Bible
says that the problem isn’t money, it’s the love of money that is
“a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Tim. 6:10).
Most of us would certainly agree that we need to be in con-
trol of our finances. Saving money, keeping costs down, and shop-
ping for discounts are all good things. It’s tempting to see money
problems as simply a need for more income; however, the prob-
lem often isn’t the high cost of living—it’s the cost of high living.
The problem of our financial outgo exceeding our input is a
self-boundary issue. When we have difficulty saying no to spend-
ing more than we should, we run the risk of becoming someone
else’s servant: “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is
servant to the lender” (Prov. 22:7).
Time
Many people feel that their time is out of control. They are
“eleventh-hour people,” constantly on the edge of deadlines. Try
as they might, they find the day—every day—getting away from
them. There just aren’t enough hours to accomplish their tasks.
The word early doesn’t seem to be part of their personal experi-
ence. Some of the time binds these strugglers deal with are these:
- business meetings
- luncheon appointments
- project deadlines
- church and school activities
- holiday mailings
Boundaries