At the moment myself and Jenny host a small group (home group/cell group/life group) each week. I once set an activity that focussed on how different people make priorities with their money. I didn't know how it would go, or what we would find out from comparing the lists. But by the end, I was surprised.
What do we spend money on?
First I got the group to think of a list of about 7 or 8 headings that someone might use to categorise everything on a personal budgeting file. The list was fairly generic. It included food, taxes, recreation, giving/charity, travel, savings, and a couple of others.
Each item was written on a piece of paper. The group were then set the task of making a list of importance, or priority, out of the headings, based on their own personal opinions. A list agreed on by the whole group. The idea of priority worked by saying that if money ran low, items starting from the bottom of the list would be dropped off of spending first.
The group has a wide range of ages, but everyone is white middle class. The list was fairly predictable. Food was near the top, recreation was above travel (regular small fun was considered a better motivator than infrequent holidays) and giving/charity ended up towards the bottom.
Rich and Poor
Next, I set the task of re-arranging the list so that it reflected the priorities of a person who was poor and probably in debt. The list was slightly different from the first. When everyone had settled on this list, food, accomodation and bills were top. Travel and recreation moved down, and savings moved up a bit. It was considered more important, if you were poor, to focus on basic needs, and cut back on frills. Again, this is what you might have expected.
Then the third list challege was given: Arrange the list so that it showed the priorities of a rich billionaire. You might guess that the list pretty much flipped upside down! Food and bills were not an issue that was worth worrying about any more. But travel and recreation were big items. Savings didn't move up the list much (why would you need to save when you are rich?) and giving/charity didn't move up much (it moved, but was still not a huge priority).
Whose side is God on?
We stopped there. I directed everyone to now read a passage from the Bible. We read the second half of Matthew chapter 6. The passage is part of Jesus' famous sermon on the mount, and this particular section includes his teachings on taking care of yourself, storing wealth, and worshipping God instead of money.
Then I set the final challenge to re-arrange the list. One last list. This time, the list would be our attempt to show the priorities that Jesus would probably have had.
What would you expect? In particular, what would you expect the Jesus list to resemble most out of the existing 3 lists- Our own middle class one, the poor one, or the rich one?
I was expecting the Jesus list to mostly resemble the poor one. I was wrong.
The Jesus list compiled by the group was almost identical to the rich list, except that giving/charity jumped up to the top 3 headings. Wow! So if we were to use our finances in the way we supposed Jesus would suggest, we would basically try to live like really generous billionnaires. I don't know why, but that surprised me.
See another post about Money...
Image source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog+lifeandstyle/toys
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