According to our new Federal Treasurer, the Newspapers and Current Affairs TV shows, the people of Sydney’s West are “feeling the pain”. Another interest rate rise has added to the blow of storm damage and repeated downfalls of torrential rain. I have no doubt that many are feeling the pinch. Mortgages are rising at a time when people have borrowed heavily to purchase their dream home. Credit Card interest is rising when people have spent more than they could afford on their luxuries. Personal loan interest is rising when people have committed more than ever to improved lifestyles. In truth we are all victims of our own desire to spend, own and enjoy.

Am I being too harsh? I don’t believe so, we have never had so much ready cash and credit and we have never had so many people burdened by it. As a survivor of the 18% interest rate era and the recession “we had to have”, when wages were much less and goods more expensive, I feel compelled to offer a little advice. Allow your lifestyle to be fashioned by what you have rather than what you want. Save a little for a rainy day and live within the rest.

Jesus says we are foolish when we don’t budget properly for a project and come up short. The other, more important advice is this; allow generosity to be your first expense rather than your last. The Lord calls upon our earnings first, even before the taxman! I have found over the years, and some of those years have been tough, that being generous to the Lord has always reaped greater rewards than being generous to myself. The Lord will be generous to me, He promises that.

In love, Alan