Delaying Gratification so that you can save money

Image by Nattanan Kanchanaprat from Pixabay 

One day Jacob was cooking stew when Esau arrived home exhausted from the hunt. 30 Esau: “Boy, am I starved! Give me a bite of that red stuff there!” (From this came his nickname “Edom,” which means “Red Stuff.”) 31 Jacob: “All right, trade me your birthright for it!” 32 Esau: “When a man is dying of starvation, what good is his birthright?” 33 Jacob: “Well then, vow to God that it is mine!” And Esau vowed, thereby selling all his eldest-son rights to his younger brother. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread, peas, and stew; so he ate and drank and went on about his business, indifferent to the loss of the rights he had thrown away. Genesis 25: 29-34

In this article I want to talk about something practical, and close to God's heart.  That is developing a habit of saving money.  When it comes to saving money, we must exercise one of God's key virtues, the act of having patience.

In the scriptures above, we witness Esau, waste his birthright because of hunger.  He made a rash, life changing decision that negatively impacted him for the duration of his life on Earth.  And why?  All because his hunger pains were clouding his judgement.  

Many of us are like Esau, we give in to our appetite, especially when it comes to money.  I remember years ago, I used to walk in a store and would impulsively shop.  I had this fear of if I didn't purchase something now, that I would not have the opportunity to purchase it later.  In my mind either someone was going to buy the item I wanted, or some unexpected circumstance will come up that I would money for.  

However, last year I decided that if I wanted to become financially  secure,  I needed to save money.  I started off small, but consistency caused my savings account to begin to build up.  Every pay check, I put money away, and it felt good.  This caused me to look at how I was spending and areas where I could do better.  For example, I would budget money for needs, wants, savings and investments.  I quickly saw where I was wasting money. One of the main places was me eating out on my lunch break at work.  Some lunches would be a quick sandwich, and others would be more elaborate.  These lunches would cost anywhere from $8-$17 a day.  After a month, we are talking spending well over $250+.  I cut that out by packing lunch and I was left with so much more money to save.  

Deuteronomy 28:13 states that we are the "head and not the tail".  Many of us confess it but we do not change our habits.  This verse is more than just a verbal confession, but a lifestyle.  It is a set of principles that we must follow so we can become the "head".  Sometimes we think that God will just honor something because we say it multiple times a day, but we must understand the principles and steps we need to take.  God bless you!