When I was in fifth grade I asked my mom for a spare checkbook (which she gave me without thinking twice). My teacher had instructed all the students to bring one to school so we could learn how to write a check. In retrospect it’s comical considering the fraud and identity theft prevalent today. Even the use of personal checks today is largely a holdover from previous generations. What is not outdated is the principle of teaching children the value of money.
Techniques for giving children a financial education include giving them a piggy bank, providing them an age-appropriate allowance, creating opportunities to earn money and letting them shop with their own money. One of the key principles for them to learn is opportunity cost. By making shopping decisions they figure out “if I buy this, then I won’t have money for that.” To buy something is to place value on it. If something gets your money then, necessarily, you have denied yourself something else. This is, perhaps, most clearly taught in Scripture in Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” It’s a pretty straight line. Where your dollars go reveals what you value most.
This principle, however, is not exclusive to physical purchases. Proverbs 23:23 reads, “Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.” You cannot save up for a big purchase at a local Wisdom Depot, so what’s this all about? God is using the same concepts that are taught to children. Life is full of opportunity costs and money is just one of them. Does your budget reflect a desire to buy truth, wisdom, instruction and understanding? Can you point to purchases that support that desire?
Opportunity cost is equally applicable to time. You have a finite amount of it each day and, one way or another, it gets spent. If you were to review your time choices over the last year, what would the graph look like? What could be learned from the statistical data? What trends would be revealed? In what ways is your time being spent to purchase truth, wisdom, instruction and understanding?
Several years ago my brother transitioned from a successful career in finance to owning a 165-acre farm. He did not grow up farming, but it was a lifelong dream of his to own and operate one. He wanted to be as wise as possible with the purchase of the property, so as a financially savvy owner he went to the work of research. Every time I talked to him he was reading a new book, attending a conference, calling people in the business, sitting down with neighboring farmers and taking notes all along the way. He investigated growing and supplying restaurants with a rare berry. He looked into planting hops and showed me pictures of the unusual equipment needed to harvest it. He considered raising buffalo (among other livestock options) and thought carefully about the logistics necessary to make the venture a long-term success. Eventually he landed on growing hay and raising organic beef.
The point is that he was motivated to make a decision that was financially prudent, was a responsible use of the land, that he might enjoy doing and that might use his talents to glorify God. The result of that motivation was a clear commitment to spending time and money to learn to how to achieve those results.
Could some form of this attitude be attributed to your pursuit of biblical truth, wisdom, instruction and understanding? Is there a trail of receipts, books, conversations, text messages, etc. that demonstrate that you earnestly desire to buy these things? Consider these supporting Scriptures.
Proverbs 4:5, “Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.”
Proverbs 4:7, “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.”
Proverbs 18:15, “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.”
Matthew 13:44, “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”
Get, acquire, seek, sells all he has and buys—these are the descriptors of those that are actively engage in buying truth, wisdom, instruction and understanding. Purchasing those is truly an act of “buying power!” Be intentional about investing treasures in heaven.