Allowances: An Introduction to God's Economy 101

What God Grants Helps Us Learn His Ways

Photo by Diane Helentjaris | Unsplash

We didn't have an allowance when we were kids. There was barely enough money for groceries and household expenses, so lessons about finances (apart from what we observed of eking out a living) had to wait until we earned our own paychecks, which came for me at age 10 when The Hartford Times (an afternoon Connecticut newspaper) hired me as a paperboy.

For us, an allowance was a privilege, a nice-to-have, and we lived on necessities. But a regular, small stipend doled to a child can teach important concepts about saving, spending, and learning to control cravings. An allowance introduces a child to the adult's economy.

My parents gave no allowances, but God does, and His achieves their exact purpose: God's allowances introduce us to His economy.

Remember the beginning. When God created the heavens and the earth, all the creation experienced His sovereignty: the One who makes the players also makes the rules. All creatures far and near knew of the might of the Almighty because nothing existed apart from what He made—out of nothing. The heavenly hosts learned quickly God knew everything about anything.

A psalmist put the experience into words centuries later,

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 
If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. 
—Psalm 139:7-8

God rules, and everything might suggest He is tightfisted. He is not.

There is more to God's economy than might and rules. There are also mercy and grace, forgiveness and love, release and redemption. How could He teach these?

God made allowances.

He did not entice Satan to rebel, but allowed it. He did not force-feed Eve but allowed her to taste temptation. Nor did He pluck health, wealth, and family from Job, but permitted Satan to unleash unbearable suffering.

And there are thorns in our lives that God did not plant, but He allows.

Such allowances are an Introduction to God's Economy 101.

By allowing a bear market, so to speak, God shows He trades not only in sovereignty and power, justice and majesty, but also in mercy and love, humility and forgiveness, grace and patience.

Perhaps the greatest coin in God's economy is redemption. Whether we overspend or hardships deplete us, bankruptcy always lurks and God provided an escape from destitution and despair—the law of redemption. This law stipulates that when someone can no longer provide for themselves, the closest relative is responsible for buying back the property or goods that were hawked. The law obligates the nearest kin to be a redeemer. (Read the details in Leviticus 25:23-34).

Not all of us need financial relief, but we all experience bankruptcy worse than an empty bank account. The newscasts on any day spew moral failure in the magnitude of the Apostle Paul's despair. Writing to residents in Rome, Paul said he was wretched because he was all too aware of not doing what he should while doing the wrong he despised. Romans 7 has been called Everyone's Story.

He had no reserves, no resources, and cried out, "Who can deliver me?"

Jesus delivered, and Paul rejoiced, "I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:25).

Let the magnitude of this sink in.

In Christ, God Himself became our redeemer. He fulfilled His own law and became our closest kin. This is the heart of Christmas, when God became Emmanuel, God with us. This is where John begins his gospel: "The Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:1, 14).

When we were bankrupt, Jesus bailed us out. Paul expresses this elsewhere in his letter to the Romans in non-economic terms.

"When we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."

"While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

"When we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son."

Throughout, says Paul, God was demonstrating His love for us (Romans 5:6-10).

How does God get us to know these things? He makes allowances.

Learning how an economy works is not easy and can even be painful, as we see each time the Federal Reserve Board meets to assess interest rates. We begin teaching our children these lessons by giving them allowances. Our heavenly Father is wise to our ways and grants us allowances, too. Let’s not be like our children, who often dislike what they get, but accept patiently, if not gratefully, what our Father allows.