Category — Changing Your Mindset

Physorg has posted an article highlighting the outrageous cost of sending a text message.

From the article:

“The maximum size for a text message is 160 characters, which takes 140 bytes because there are only 7 bits per character in the text messaging system, and we assume the average price for a text message is 5p. There are 1,048,576 bytes in a megabyte, so that’s 1 million/140 = 7490 text messages to transmit one megabyte. At 5p each, that’s £374.49 per MB – or about 4.4 times more expensive than the ‘most pessimistic’ estimate for Hubble Space Telescope transmission costs.”

For those of you that don’t speak in British Pounds, that’s $732.17 per MB! Want to text message your music collection? It’ll cost you a cool $61,356,851.20.

Maybe technology really hasn’t brought us that far…

Money plays a huge part in our relationship with God. You see, God has set you up as a manager over a set amount of resources. Everything is owned by God and you are one of His managers.

As a manager for God, one of your assigned duties is to set aside a portion for Him. From the very beginning, people brought offerings to God (Genesis 4.) They understood that God really owned it all and that they were simply in charge of taking care of it. And part of that job was to offer some of their resources back to God.

The word tithe comes from the Hebrew word ma‛aser which is literally translated as a ‘tenth’ and generally referrs to the portion of one’s income that is set apart for the Lord. As I said above we see offerings being presented to God from the very beginning, however we don’t see the first instance of the true tithe until Genesis 14. After God gives Abraham victory in battle, he offers 10% of the spoils of war back to God.

Later on we see several more instances of the Biblical tithe. This process was written into the Jewish laws. “A tenth of the land’s produce, whether grain from the ground or fruit from the trees, is God’s. It is holy to God.” (Leviticus 27:30 MSG) In addition, the Word goes further to say that you will be blessed for doing so: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” (Malachi 3:10 NIV)

What is the Biblical Tithe? Literally it is 10% of what we recieve. Really though, I think it’s much more that that. You see, God doesn’t need our money. In fact, God doesn’t really even want our money. What He wants is our heart. And often our money is very tightly connected to our heart.

What are your hot buttons? Do you know where they are or how to find them? Finding your hot buttons is usually the job of a salesman or a marketing firm. The idea is that if you can find someones “hot button” they will be more inclined to find your product attractive. For instance, if I were selling an antibacterial dog shampoo I might market to a demographic of pet owners that find microorganisms disgusting. The dog-owning germaphobes’ hot button is the thousands of microorganisms that are living on Fluffy.

In order to control our finances we have to find our own hot buttons. We have to know what makes us angry and incites a passion to change. In order to make a committed change we have find those buttons, press ‘em down and not let go until the change has been fully made. You see, to do something crazy (from a materialism driven society’s point of view) like become debt free, you have to act crazy.

1) Find what makes you go crazy. What drives you nuts? What makes you angry? Chances are, whatever makes you angry is closely related to a vein of passion deeply rooted in your soul, your core values. If stupid people make you angry then you probably are an over-achiever, passionate about achieving excellence. Now, find what makes you angry about being in debt. Is it the insecurity? Is it the wasteful spending? Do you feel trapped and out of control? What makes you angry?

2) Find what makes your heart bleed. What makes you sad? What rips your heart out? In the same fashion as anger, empathy is closely related to the passion buried in the depth of your soul. When you see someone living on the street does it upset you? Do you flinch at the sight of an impoverished family? If you feel empathy for those in need then you may have the core value of generosity. What makes you sad?

3) Write it down and commit to it. Write down your hot buttons from step 1 and 2. Write down why you want to take control of your finances. Maybe it’s “I want more financial security” or “I don’t want to feel like a slave to debt.” Whatever it is, write it down. Finding your motivation, or your “hot buttons” is all well and good, but if you don’t write it down, you probably won’t commit to it (at least not for long,) and if you don’t commit to it then it really doesn’t do you much good.

4) Put it where you can see it, push it and don’t let go. After putting your hot buttons to paper, display them boldly where you will see them every day. Put it on your bathroom mirror, your fridge, or on the dashboard of your car. Every time you see your reasons to be financially free it will empower you. It will push you towards your goal. Push those buttons and don’t let go.