What does the Bible say about budgeting?

These two principles — regularity and conscientiousness — are very simple and easy to be understood; but they are not on that account less likely to be overlooked. You will therefore do well to lay it seriously to heart that whatever sum you set aside week by week, whether it be a penny or a pound, it ought to be the outcome (1) of the regular habit you have acquired of so doing, and (2) of a real effort to make that sum a just and generous proportion of your income.

We apportion out our income to the various items of expenditure without being legal. Is it legal to give a daughter a dress allowance? Why should it be legal to put aside a proportion at each time of receipt of income for the things of the Lord.

It is strongly recommended, therefore, that whenever our income comes in, a proportion be put aside, and that whenever our income rises to let the first part of that increase go for the Lord's service. Those who have tried it can testify how helpful this plan is, how there is no bondage connected with it, and how greatly their powers of giving have been increased thereby.

It may be perfectly legitimate to buy another coat or dress, yet if the old ones are made to last double the time, in order that the extra amount might go to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, is it not well? If self-denial (usually so called) has no place, then why the frequent injunctions to give all through Scripture, and the promises of reward? And it may be laid down as an axiom that unless we set apart a proportion at the moment we receive, with ordinary Christians our powers of giving will be greatly reduced. This or that will come up until, with all the will in the world, little will be left to give.

The writer, in 1868, met in Bombay a servant of the Lord, now departed, who, being unmarried (1 Cor. 7:33), lived with extreme frugality for the Lord's sake. Being very talented, he could easily have been rich if he chose, whereas he lived on a few shillings a month, yet without any ostentation, asceticism, or display of poverty, and with perfect cheerfulness. Those that were helped by his ministry often sent him presents, sometimes very valuable ones; he thanked them and quietly gave them away to others, and he kept nothing. Such an one had no need of such action: but take ordinary people like most of us, especially those who are married and have families, as most of us have. Is it said in vain that he that is married careth for the things of the world that he may please his wife, and the wife for the things of the world that she may please her husband? Unless, therefore, a portion is regularly set aside, and the rest alone is looked upon as the allowance for the ordinary needs, it will generally be found in practice that uncommonly little is left for giving.

I beg you earnestly, dear brother, to be diligent about your temporal business. You know well that I am very far from wishing to see you leave your work, but what our hand finds to do we are to do it with our might. Limit your expenses at once, if they exceed your income, and arrange your business as a good steward of the Lord. Disorder in one's business is dishonouring to the gospel, as being careful to increase our wealth like the world dries up (one can do no more) the soul. The word has told us that it is the way and the root of every sort of evil. But the principles are simple; to live simply in order to be able to give of what one has, and to be faithful in one's own things, making use of them as having been entrusted to us to have in order to use them according to the Lord. The Book of Proverbs teaches us clearly in detail about these things.

Chapter 13:8. “Owe no man anything.” These few words are very comprehensive. Not merely debts when due, but to seek to pay all demands as soon as due. To do this, a Christian should always seek to live below his income, and do his business within his means. This may require much diligence and self-denial, but what misery will he avoid. These words, then, are important, when applied as to income and expenditure. And also, whatever kindness may be shown us, let us seek to return it with large interest. “Owe no man anything, unless to love one another” (New Translation). Ah, that is a debt never fully paid, for it is to love one another as He has loved us.

We have read your letter with deep interest and we can enter into your feelings. We believe the Christian is bound to provide for his family, day by day — bound to educate his children and put them in the way of earning an honest livelihood. All this is so plainly commanded in the New Testament as to admit of no question. But these sacred duties leave wholly untouched the question of hoarding up and of speculation. We do not believe in these latter at all. We believe that hoarding covers the soul with rust and speculation fills the heart and mind with care and anxiety.

As to any other questions that may arise, such, for instance, as to whether one should lay up for one's family, they can only be settled by each one individually waiting on the Lord and receiving special guidance from Him. For his guidance he will find on the one hand such Scriptures as "I have been young and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. He is ever merciful and lendeth, and his seed is blessed" (Psalm 37:25-26); and on the other hand, "I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you; for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children." (2 Cor. 12:14.) Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. One thing is, however, clear, that if a man does not make provision for his family, such as a prudent man of the world makes, and in consequence spends more upon himself than he would otherwise be able to do, expecting the saints to care for his family, and thus throwing them as a burden on the Church, then he is neither acting in faith, nor in an upright, godly manner. Such conduct can unhesitatingly be condemned as unrighteous. If he has faith to spend in the Lord's interests, not only what he would naturally do as a Christian, but also over and above what he would save up for his family, well and good, but without faith it is impossible to please God, and counterfeit faith is worthless.

"S." You ask, "Is it right to lay up money for the future?" This is entirely a question between the heart and the Lord. If one cannot fully trust the Lord for the future, both for himself and for his family — if one has not such a sense of what God is, and what the life of faith is, as to lift the heart entirely above the range of creature confidence, human hopes, and earthly expectations, he can, of course, only lay up money, or insure his life. In the case of a mere man of the world, it is very laudable to deny himself in order to lay up for his wife and children; but the man of God stands on different ground altogether. We believe it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in a store of money, or in an insurance policy. "Leave thy fatherless children to me, and let thy widows trust in me." We have often seen the truth of the old proverb: "If you lay up for a rainy day, God will send you a rainy day." And as to children, the best provision you can make for them is, to teach them to provide for themselves by honest industry.