When it Comes to Planning, Learn from the Ants

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (BP) -- Ants aren't known for having big brains and yet sometimes they act smarter than people. The Bible actually calls ants "wise" because they store up food for the winter.

"Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest" (Proverbs 6:7-8).

So what is it that ants have figured out -- that some people just don't get?

It's called short-term planning. True, ants operate more out of instinct than intellect, but they still manage to put food aside during good times. Too often, people fail to take the same precaution. (MORE)

5 Signs You’re Borrowing Too Much

 (Time)  They’re ba-ack. Like the ghosts in Poltergeist, shoppers have returned this holiday season and they are threatening to stir up a familiar demon—debts they can’t repay.

Black Friday sales set records. Cyber Monday sales were torrid too. Personal spending accounted for the vast majority of third-quarter growth, and spending has been up three of the past four months, reports the Wall Street Journal. The savings rate has fallen to 3.5% from 5.3%.    MORE

Ask RC (RC Sproul Jr.)

(Founder, Chairman and Teacher of Highlands Ministries, Teaching Fellow at Ligonier Ministries and Professor at Reformation Bible College)
August 16, 2011

Given tough economic times and Wall Street’s screaming roller coaster ride, what ought Christians to do?

There is certainly a biblical injunction that we discern the times. God calls us to do this, however, not so we will know the right move to make at the right time, but so that we will remember what the right move always was. Circumstances don’t change our calling, though they can wake us up to our calling. Such is the case here.

Christians should do what Christians are always called to do. First, we should be looking to our own sin. Why is that that Christians are up in arms politically during a time of shocking deficits, high unemployment and a moribund real estate market, but have been comparatively content over almost forty years of abortion on demand? What does that say about us and our priorities?

The obvious answer is this- money is an idol to us. We think because money seems to be even more important to Gordon Gekko, or Donald Trump, that we are therefore free from seeing it as an idol. We think that having less than somebody else is proof we’re not greedy. But when what we have, whether large or small, is threatened by hard times we find out what a priority wealth is to us.

Money Decisions

The Real Bottom Line of Money Decisions (Chuck Bentley) "GAINESVILLE, Ga. (BP)--"I once met a man who told me he could increase the "velocity" of my money. I told him I didn't get it. He said he thought it was over my head. Turns out, he didn't get it either -- his investment company crashed and burned less than two years after our dialogue.  In man's economy, financial advisors and experts can lead you through any financial need you face; but regardless of their expertise, their wisdom is no substitute for the wisdom of God. When we transfer our hopes to God and His economy, we are to turn first to the Lord and seek His wisdom for all issues, including financial decisions...."

Why We Need to Do the Right Thing: Ethical and Economic Meltdown (Chuck Colson)
For two years now I’ve been telling you that the nation’s economic collapse was the result of an ethical collapse. And now you don’t have to take my word for it. A recent report by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission called the events of 2008 and their aftermath “avoidable.” The commission wrote that the “crisis was the result of human action and inaction” and not unforeseeable events or uncontrollable forces.

Websites to Save You Money (Baptist Press).  DORA, Ala. (BP)--There's a wealth of info in cyberspace that can help you and your family save time and money. If you aren't Internet savvy, please check with your local library, community college and other places that offer basic computer courses -- many of which are free.