Stewardship Integrity

 

    Stewardship integrity is taking ownership, responsibility, and accountability of what you have.  To be a steward of integrity is to be found good and wise by God.  A budget is the first step of being a good steward with integrity.  You take responsibility over your spending.  Then you start telling your money where you want it to go.  Just don't forget it was God that gave you everything you have.

    It is always good to learn new skills.  Budgeting is a skill that can use many different techniques.  One technique is creating an estimated budget.  This where you list your monthly income and subtract tithe and taxes off the top.  Then you list monthly living expenses.  You break it down to each bill and be detailed to the last item that takes money from you.  The last step is at the bottom of the two list put your net income (gross-tithe-taxes) and the total of all your expenses.  Then take the net minus expenses to see if you have a surplus for saving or deficit showing that you are getting deeper into debt.

    The estimated budget is a quicker overview of your spending habits.  It shows you in one page where you need to make financial changes in your life.  What you discover may frustrate or discourage you, but it is meant to reveal the truth.  Use it to be hopeful.  You can make changes and it will change to benefit you.  This is a starting point that can be refined for your life.

    Gross monthly income is the income you have before taxes.  It is good to see everything you make even if it doesn't make it to your bank account.  Net includes your income from a job, commissions, bonuses, tips, retirement income, your business income, or renting a home income.  If you have more than one, then add them all together to get your gross income.

    Income may not be consistent.  If your entire income consist of commissions or tips, then it is harder to budget but not impossible.  You want to add together everything you have made in a year and divide by 12.  That is how you come up with your monthly gross income for a budget.  Reimbursements are not income.

    To get your net income you take what you worked out for your gross income and subtract the taxes and tithe.  Tithe should be 10% of what you make.  It can be 10% of what you have to spend and then you pay 10% on your income taxes or you pay 10% off the gross income.  You also need to budget a little for giving to offerings, charities, and other gifts.  Taxes are the standard deductions that we pay the government to honor God.  We do not have to like the government.  We only have to be obedient to God.

Deuteronomy 8:11-18, Proverbs 10:4-22, 13:10-11, 21:20, & 1 Corinthians 4:1-4