Legacy | Roadblocks
Recently I heard a powerful story about a beautiful vision carried by an unlikely candidate—a six-year-old little girl—Hattie May Wiatt.
As only a six-year-old would, Hattie May brought a problem to Russell H. Conwell, Grace's pastor at her church. The children's Sunday school was overcrowded.
He was delighted by her initiative and told her that one day they would have buildings big enough to allow everyone to attend without crowding. She replied, ‘I hope you will. It is so crowded I am afraid to go there alone.’ He replied, ‘When we get the money, we will construct one large enough to get all the children in.’ It was a wonderful tête-à-tête between a concerned congregant and her pastor.
Two years later, in 1886, Hattie May died. I am unsure of the circumstances surrounding her death, but I am sure it was a significant loss for her family and church. After the funeral, Hattie's mother gave the minister a little bag she had found under her daughter's pillow. The bag contained 57 cents in change that Hattie May had saved up. Alongside the money in the bag was a note in her handwriting. It read: ‘To help build [a] bigger [building] so that more children can attend Sunday school.’
Twenty-six years after her death, in a talk entitled, ‘The history of the 57 cents’, the pastor explained the results of Hattie May's 57-cent gift of her first and best: a church with a membership of over 5,600 people, a hospital where tens of thousands of people had been treated, 80,000 young people going through university, 2,000 people going out to preach the gospel—all of this happened because Hattie May Wiatt invested her 57 cents.
What stands out to me in her story is the theme of God-given vision for the resources He has entrusted to us. When we have a God-given vision for ourselves, our family, and our church and invest in that vision, God does with that investment what we could have never done on our own.
I believe that we all want to be and live like Hattie May. Somewhere in your heart, even way down deep, you want to have this level of impact over your lifetime. The question then is, what is in our way? Why do we not believe we have the means to leave a lasting impact? Why don't the vast majority of Jesus' people bring their first and best to Him as they invest in their financial future?
I think it is quite simple.
We have roadblocks that cloud our vision of God's vision for our resources.
You can probably come up with several roadblocks, given enough time to sit and think about them, but I believe there are four underneath which any others could fall. Because of those roadblocks:
God's vision for our resources is far greater than our vision for our resources.
Of course, when I say “our,” I mean ours in the sense that we heard last time—as managers, not owners.
If we could, like six-year-old Hattie May, get a bigger vision for our 57 cents, then the impact possible—both personal and corporate—is extraordinary. You may be starting at sixty or twenty-six rather than six, but if you begin today, working to remove each of these roadblocks, leaving a legacy of lasting impact will be well within our reach. I am tempted to say… it is guaranteed.
As I said, I believe there are four significant roadblocks we need to remove before we can truly get God's vision and have a lasting impact for our families, the church, and the world around us. Remember, we could have 139 BILLION dollars worth of global impact. The first roadblock we must remove is this: Lack of Financial Literacy. Do you know why we are so uncomfortable talking about money, dealing with money, and handling money? Because by and large, our nation, even the world, is illiterate regarding money.
Though there are several definitions of financial literacy, the one that resounded most for our context is this one:
Financial literacy is the combination of knowledge, skills, attitudes and ultimately, behaviours that translate into sound financial decisions and appropriate use of financial resources.
Research suggests that there are seven critical components of financial literacy:
earning
spending
saving
investing
borrowing
giving
protecting
Often the issue for many of us is not that we do not have enough but that we do not manage well what we have. [see Proverbs 27:23-27] We lack financial literacy. On Twitter—yes, it still exists—I saw this post: “Being an adult is 90% worrying about money, and 10% spending money you don't have on treats because you worried a lot this week.” Family, we cannot keep living like this; we must get literate and apply the Scriptures and sound financial wisdom to how we leverage our resources.
The solution—become literate and wisely manage what you have. The reward for financially literate behaviour? Your possessions will provide enough for you and your entire household.
Practically, here is the path to literacy:
Create a Budget. Count the cost. [see Luke 14:28-30]
Honour the Lord [see Proverbs 3:9-10]
Pay Your Self
Pay Bills Promptly
Get Your Credit Report
Check Your Credit Score
Manage Debt
Invest in Your Future Self
The second roadblock we have to remove is Little Long Term Vision. Going back to Hattie May's story, she had a vision for what she wanted to see happen—a non-terrifying experience in a less crowded Sunday School, so she began to save toward that vision. We lack long-term vision and live like it, particularly concerning our resources. Our lack of vision causes us to consume everything we have, even past our margin. Statistically, the average U.S. Citizen spends 127% of their income… 127%.
How will we ever leave a legacy of any kind if we spend twenty-seven per cent more than we are even bringing in?
How do we make generational gains if we use all we have and more before we even get more?
Yet, the Scriptures paint a very different picture, telling us, “In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has..” [see Proverbs 21:20] A fool consumes all they have, with no guarantee that there will ever be more. A wise person has a vision beyond themselves. Will we be wise or foolish? Will we buck the trend of devouring our margin and more, or will we determine today to do something different so we can see something different?
We must also remove the third roadblock, and it is Large Liabilities. A liability is a money you owe to another person or institution. A liability might be short-term, such as a credit card balance, or long-term, such as a mortgage. All of your liabilities should factor into your plan for building a financial legacy that makes a lasting impact.
People in the U.S. saddle themselves with liabilities, and it is crushing them… it is crushing some of you. Credit card debt has increased by two Trillion dollars since March 2020… TWO. TRILLION. DOLLARS. Did you know they do not even have a category for credit card debt in Germany? As one dear sister told me, when she travelled there, she was puzzled that many stores did not take credit cards. When she inquired about it, she was asked flatly—“Germans don't really have the concept of credit cards; why would you spend money you don't have?”
As a society, we owe so many people so much money that there is no wonder our vision for God's vision is clouded. We cannot see anything past our piles of debt. What do the Scriptures say about liabilities?
“One who has no sense shakes hands in pledge and puts up security for a neighbour.” [Proverbs 17:18]
“The rich rule over the poor, And the borrower is slave to the lender.” [Proverbs 22:7]
“Do not be one who shakes hands in pledge or puts up security for debts; if you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched from under you.” [Proverbs 22:26-27]
“Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another.” [Romans 13:8]
Debt should be approached with extreme caution if you did not get the picture from that barrage of scripture. In our society, debt is far too easy to accumulate. The economic system provides for this ease. We easily collect mounting liabilities from student loans to mortgages, credit cards, and car notes. Debt puts us in bondage, and consumer debt makes it extremely difficult to build wealth for the sake of generosity.
What can you do?
Use your budget to stay on top of debt by reducing spending and increasing repayment.
Develop a debt-reduction plan, such as first paying down the loan with the highest interest rate.
Contact lenders to renegotiate repayment, consolidate loans, or find a debt-counselling program if your debt is excessive.
Work to pay off your credit card debt if you are in it, and then once you get all your consumer debts paid off—car note included—it is time to focus on paying off the mortgage early.
Now, if you are asking yourself why our society is so saddled with debt, it is because of the fourth roadblock we must remove—Landfill Living. Landfill living, Leonce? Yes. Landfill living. Sooner or later, everything we purchase or get a loan to “own” will end up in a landfill. Cars, Christmas presents, boats and ball caps and barbecue accessories. Stereos and stuff that fill our homes. It will all end up in a landfill at some point, yet we live for those things that land in a landfill. The things that our children fought over that ended friendships that required lies and dissolved marriages—all of it ends up in a landfill.
Do you want to hear something extraordinary about our culture? We are—as a nation—in massive amounts of debt, yet the self-storage industry is a forty billion dollar per year industry. Forty billion. One article shared with me summed it up this way—“it encapsulates the American dream.”
We have so much stuff that we do not have room in our homes for all of it, and it will eventually end up in the trash heap. Against that backdrop of what we live for are Jesus' stinging and unsettling words.
“Don't store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.”[Matthew 6:19-20]
What is Jesus on about? It is pretty plain. If you live for the landfill, you lose. Eventually, everything you have will rust, moths will chew through your best suit, and people will take it. But if you live for legacy—here and beyond here—you do not have to worry about the consequences of landfill living. If you are going to create a financial vision that leaves a lasting impact, then this roadblock—and all others—must be removed.
Considering these four roadblocks, which one is the most significant for your life? Is it a lack of literacy? Is it a lack of long-term vision? Is it a plethora of liabilities? Is it living for the landfill? Hell, is it all four? Whatever roadblock is prevalent in your life, if you or I are going to create a financial future that leaves a legacy, then we must overcome these four roadblocks; otherwise, what we build has no promise of lasting. These roadblocks are not only robbing you of abundant life, but they are prohibiting you from promoting and producing the generational flourishing God has promised you.
So what do we do? Get God's vision for what He has given you. Start by being honest about the roadblock or roadblocks in your way, and put all your energy into eliminating each one. Take control of your future, and get a vision thats bigger than yourself!