Financial Harmony
June 2004 - eNewsletter

by Stanton Lanier

When I surrendered my career life to God in the fall of 1994, He called me to Ronald Blue & Co. to be a financial planner. I thought it would be for life.  Little did I know that as my wife and I grew in our knowledge and application of the same Biblical principles we teach our clients, God would provide us with the flexibility to obey His call to full-time music ministry.  Below is a brief summary of five key principles, and how God has used them in our lives.

1. Understand that God owns it all.  This is something we had heard and knew in our heads, but God began to work in new and exciting ways when we started to live life knowing that 100% of everything we have is His.  We began to grow in our generosity and saw firsthand that we cannot outgive God.  We experienced God’s faithfulness as we entrusted all financial decisions to Him, both large (moving to a home closer to work to have more family time) and small (buying shoes for the kids).
   
   
2. Set long-term written financial goals.  Inspired by others, we began to have an annual goal-setting weekend together eight years ago.  Praying together and communicating about our stewardship united us as a couple as we invested in goals such as giving, relationships, lifestyle, travel, education, financial flexibility, and being debt-free by the time the kids go to college.
   
   
3. Spend less than you earn.  We both knew how to be thrifty from our upbringings (my mom gave my brothers and I half pieces of chewing gum on family trips!).  We also learned that there is a balance between hoarding and spending to extremes.  We focused on saving most of my wife’s income before she came home to care for our two children.  We have spent strategically to build memories (one year I stopped saving to my 401(k) so we could buy a nice swing set and enjoy a nicer vacation).
   
   
4. Avoid the use of debt.  With debt, proceeding with caution is a mindset you have to adopt. Like many people, we began our marriage with some consumer debt.  Therefore we decided not to buy anything outside of house and cars that we could not pay for right away.  We realized we would have a home mortgage for many years, but we have borrowed much less than lenders would allow.  One of the most significant turning points in this area was when I drove my brand new 1986 car for ten years (five years with payments and five years paid for).  Since we are a two car household, this began a cycle of saving to replace one car every four to five years, paying either all or mostly cash each time.
   
   
5. Avoid a consumptive lifestyle.  In our lives this has not meant “no fun allowed” or “we can never buy something nice.”  It has meant that we are not trying to keep up with or compare ourselves to others.  From our experience, I believe that growing in giving more to God’s Kingdom leads to greater contentment.  Living a lifestyle within our means (which is unique to each couple) has allowed us to give generously, spend strategically, and invest with a long-term perspective.

Stanton Lanier is a pianist and composer, and the founder of Music to Light the World, Inc., a non-profit ministry.  He has released three CDs of soothing, scripture inspired solo piano melodies.  He was named one of “Ten Independent Artists You Should Know” by ChristianityToday.com in 2003, and has been invited to perform in concert at the Crystal Cathedral in September 2004.  If you would like to sample or order his music, please visit www.MusictoLighttheWorld.com.

Return to Newsletter Index