Janie B. Cheaney: Speaking of money

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, October 2nd. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast. Here’s WORLD commentator Janie B. Cheaney now on wise investing, God’s way.

JANIE B. CHEANEY: It’s criminal that basic economics isn’t part of every school district’s core curriculum. Because it seems to me that very few Americans understand money. For too long, I was one of them.

My husband had a bachelor’s degree in business when we met, and saw it as his natural role to control our finances. I was happy to let him, since that wasn’t my forte. Case in point, during my last summer job as a bookkeeper at the Dallas Salvation Army headquarters, they made me do one payroll. Let’s just say graciously, that was a big mistake. One they didn’t repeat.

As a young couple, our first twelve years were an economic roller-coaster from job to job. My husband worked as an assistant manager for a drive-in, an apprentice electrician, and a brakeman, fireman, and part-time mechanic on steam excursion railroads. We never got ahead financially until he used his dad’s connections to hire on as a brakeman on the Missouri Pacific Railroad.

The job paid well but was detrimental to family life, not to mention slightly dangerous in all kinds of weather. He banked enough money to quit and try starting a business, which didn’t pan out. Then he went back to school—to study music, of all things. The benefits were spiritual rather than financial, and I wouldn’t have traded that year, but at the end of it we were broke.

Back to the railroad, in management this time, starting out as a lowly clerk. For the first few months we had to borrow money to pay grocery and electric bills. But that was 1980—after the decade got off to a rough start, incomes rose, boosting us to solid middle-class status. He stayed with the railroad long enough to get a sales job with a company car and an expense account. Then he quit to start a business, and back to square one.

Our basic principle of money management was “save, don’t spend.” Like Paul, we knew how to be brought low, and as long as I had a stove and a sewing machine I could manage a frugal household. But we didn’t know how to abound.

My husband’s second try at self-employment succeeded, and he used much of the money to make unwise investments—for which I blame his early dementia. When I assumed control of the bank account it came with a steep learning curve. The Lord has always provided, and I don’t dwell on past mistakes. But I’d like to do better.

Last week I came across a quote from Ron Blue that centered my thinking: “When we use money we are investing it, not spending it.” In other words, while laying up treasure in heaven, we’re investing in our health, the well-being of others, and the kingdom of God. Tithing is like a direct deposit, but disposable income is invested also: in our homes as places of refuge and hospitality, in our tables as refreshment and welcome, in our vehicles as service, even in our fun as relationship-building. What a concept!

In God’s economy, nothing is wasted. But investing our resources in Him is not just responsible, it’s joy.

I’m Janie B. Cheaney.

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