Extravagance Verses Prudence

Does your husband trust you to be prudent with the way you spend his hard earned money or are you wasteful? Do you hide things from your husband that you bought without him knowing? Can he trust you to use his money wisely? "Wifely thriftlessness and extravagance have destroyed the happiness of many a household and wrecked many a home. On the other hand, many a man owes his prosperity to his wife's prudence and her wise administration of household affairs." {J. R. Miller}

Did you know there are many verses about being prudent in the Word? The prudent acts with knowledge {Proverbs 13:16}.  She knows how much money her husband makes and lives carefully within his income. She finds the healthiest food she can to feed her family at the best prices. For everything she buys, she researches carefully for a wise purchase instead of buying things because she "feels" like it. She never wastes money but realizes that God cares about the way she spends her money and she wants to bring glory to Him even in this area. She prays for wisdom and knowledge in this important area.

The prudent sees dangers and hides from it {Proverbs 27:12}. She knows how hard her husband works and does everything in her power to keep her family out of debt and the pain of it. She is content with little, if need be. She keeps enough food on hand in case of emergency situations.

A prudent person heeds rebuke {Proverbs 15:5}. It is a rare person who takes rebuke easily but a prudent woman will take rebuke and use it to refine herself and make her more like Jesus. If her husband rebukes her about the way she has spent some money, she will do what she can to rectify the situation by taking it back or cutting out in other areas. She will do her best to please her husband and appreciate her husband's rebukes.

House and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord {Proverbs 19:14}. A prudent wife cannot compare to house and wealth since a prudent wife is from the Lord! A woman who wants expensive clothing, days at the spa, fake fingernails, model homes, expensive cars with all of the latest gadgets, lots of shoes and expensive jewelry, etc. and spends a ton of money on herself is not what the Lord has called us to do with our money. Sure, we can spend some ourselves but not be extravagant. We are strangers and pilgrims on this earth and others should be able to look at our lives and tell that this is not our home. Things of this world shouldn't matter that much to us. Things of the Lord should matter, instead. If you have a husband who spends a lot of money, even more reason for you to be prudent and careful in this area as an example of being prudent to him for a godly wife wins her disobedient husband without a word by her godly behavior. You don't need the best of everything. You need godliness with contentment.

"Every true wife makes her husband's interest her own. While he lives for her, carrying her image in his heart and toiling for her all her days, she thinks only of what will do him good." {J. R. Miller}

She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
Proverbs 31:12

***If you want to learn prudence from a godly women, learn from Laine who decided instead of trying to make money, she would live carefully within her husband's income of $30,000 a year and save any way she possibly could.