Lutheran Church of Mahomet, The Invitation 2018 Programming Invitation | Page 9

When was the last time you sat down and took
a detailed look at your finances? In an age
where everything is automated—mortgage
payments, student loan payments, car pay-
ments, utilities payments, TV/Internet pay-
ments, etc.—it can be very easy to lose track
of where our money goes. These automated
services are wonderful because they make
our debt easy to manage, but they also en-
courage a sort of negligence. We get into the
habit of not seeing where our money goes
when the bank automatically pays our bills or
we stick a little plastic card into a machine
instead of feeling and seeing a wad of cash
leave our hands. All of this can enable mind-
less spending.
When we consider how much money we can
give to a church’s ministries or other non-
profit organizations, there are a few ways to
take an honest look at our actual financial sit-
uation. It will take a little bit of time and effort
to pull the layers of automation back so that
we can see where our money goes; but, paint-
ing this picture will help us decide where we
can ease or change our spending habits so
that we can realign our financial stewardship
to help with God’s work.
Another way to steward your money is to
track the companies that you purchase from.
So often, it can be easy to buy what is cheap-
est or what is most convenient, without a
thought to where those monies go. A lot of
mainstream brands support animal cruelty or
slave labor. One way to steward our resources
is to seek out and support companies with
ethical or moral values similar to our own.
Find companies that treat their employees
and God’s creation with care and respect.
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