Abiding Notes #6 - Finding True Riches
Five Lessons from The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
Abiding Notes is a simple collection of reflections and moments from the week—snapshots of life and faith in the middle of full days. My hope is that these small notes encourage you to pause, look to Christ, and keep abiding in Him with grace and hope.
In the holiday movie Christmas with the Kranks, Mr. Krank realizes that their family spends $6,000 each year on Christmas celebrations. So this year, instead of observing the usual traditions, they decide to skip the season altogether and take a vacation instead.
The gifts, donations, and hosting we take on during the holidays can put a noticeable dent in our budget. And as full as this season already is, maybe it isn’t the best time to think intentionally about our spending—or maybe it is.
For a long time, I haven’t thought much about money. Not because it doesn’t matter, but because the day-to-day weight of it has largely been carried by my husband. While it’s been a kindness to me, it’s also meant I’ve paid less attention than I might have otherwise. Responsibility quietly shapes awareness; when one fades, the other often does too.
The Psychology of Money showed up on one of my lists as one of the most popular reads this year. The title intrigued me, so I picked it up. As I read, I noticed his insights weren’t complicated and had my thoughts drifting toward Scripture. Then, an old Puritan classic I read years ago—Jeremiah Burroughs’ Contentment, Prosperity, and God’s Glory also started coming to mind.
Here are a few of the notes that stayed with me.
1. How you behave matters more than what you know
“Doing well with money has a little to do with how smart you are and a lot to do with how you behave.”
—Morgan Housel
Knowledge alone does not govern our finances—our habits do.
This becomes especially clear when spending is used as relief: a way to numb, distract, or self-soothe. Hence the familiar phrase retail therapy. Over time, what begins as occasional comfort can quietly harden into pattern. And once spending becomes a response rather than a choice, it is far more difficult to rein in.
Behavior theory reminds us that nothing we do is random. Our actions are shaped by context—our values, our circumstances, our past—and reinforced by what they give us in return. Spending often works for us in some way: it offers pleasure, control, relief, or a fleeting sense of security. Until we are willing to ask what our habits are doing for us, they remain largely invisible to us.
Scripture presses us even deeper. “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs” (1 Tim. 6:10). It’s paying attention to that craving to discover where our heart and values lie, with the warning of how quickly we can be led astray by following those heart pangs.
Christian contentment, as Burroughs describes it, is not passive restraint but active submission of the heart. It requires attentiveness—an honest reckoning with why we reach for what we do, and whether those reaches align with trust in, just as Proverbs 4:23 reminds us:
“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”
This kind of examination is rarely popular, especially in a culture that normalizes impulsivity and calls it freedom. But for us as believers, it’s essential for our finances to reflect faith.
Father, give us eyes to see the desires beneath our decisions, and form in us a deeper trust in You.
2. Spending and… humility
“One of the most powerful ways to increase your savings isn’t to raise your income. It’s to raise your humility.”
—Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money
After living on missionary support for years, we learned to live simply. Some of that was circumstance—living in the bush is, in many ways, a remarkably inexpensive way to live. In our village we ate coconut rice and beans, and our home relied on a single solar panel for light and charging devices.
Over the years, we’ve done all kinds things to save money (as good missionaries do). On one home assignment, we drove my grandpa’s red 1980s Buick Regal, complete with a curtain across the back seat. We even drove it an hour into the city, apparently confident in its reliability. At one intersection, an elderly woman crossing with her walker stopped in front of us, looked at the car, and said, “That’s a nice car!”
It probably didn’t take long after returning home for our posture to shift. We aren’t driving the Buick anymore.
What I didn’t recognize at the time—perhaps out of naivety—was how much pride factors into our financial decisions. So often, the things we buy aren’t meant to impress ourselves as much as they are meant to reassure or impress others. Housel notes that “the hardest financial skill is getting the goalpost to stop moving.” There is always a temptation to want just a little more.
But when we live confidently as who we are—grounded in clear, quiet financial goals, no longer measuring ourselves against colleagues or neighbours—we tend to save more. More importantly, we begin to live in step with a biblical vision of contentment.
Jeremiah Burroughs offers a sober warning here:
“A man has never learned how to be full if he becomes immoderately sorrowful when God takes away his possessions.”
Humility loosens our grip, and contentment has room to grow.
Lord, give me a humble heart and attentive ears, that I may listen with Your gentleness and love others more fully.
3. What is satisfaction?
“ ‘Enough’ is realizing that the opposite—an insatiable appetite for more—will push you to the point of regret.”
—Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money
When the desire for more becomes all-consuming, we begin to reason differently. We convince ourselves that we have less to lose. The risk feels smaller, the restraint unnecessary. Most of us have tasted that temptation in some small way—even in something as harmless as the brief exhilaration of winning at bingo night, or the familiar wanting that arises when the newest technology is released.
It’s a slippery slope—when nothing ever quite feels like enough.
When I think back to our mud house in the bush, I know I could live like that again. I would willingly do so if God led us there. If contentment was possible then, I find myself wondering why it feels harder now.
The answer, at least for me, is that abundance requires more diligence than scarcity. It may feel backward to admit, but when everything is available, satisfaction becomes a discipline rather than a necessity. It is a posture of mind and heart—one the Scriptures repeatedly call us to notice and to practice.
Jeremiah Burroughs writes,
“A godly man never prays more than when God prospers him in this world. Carnal men will pray much in times of affliction, but to be motivated to pray by prosperity is rare.”
When we believe we can provide for ourselves, we often become unaware of our deep need for God. Self-sufficiency dulls our dependence. I am learning how easily this takes root in my own life, and how difficult it can be to see.
When life feels full, prayer can quietly fade—and with it, our awareness of how dependent we truly are.
Lord, teach us to recognize when we have enough, and train our hearts to trust You in both abundance and want.
4. Control and Happiness
“People want to become wealthier to make them happier. Happiness is a complicated subject because everyone’s different. But if there’s a common denominator in happiness—a universal fuel of joy—it’s that people want to control their lives.”
—Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money
I think this resonates with many of us at different points in life. Happiness is complicated because what we imagine would make us happy looks different for each of us. And yet, we all want to feel it.
From a biblical perspective, however, happiness isn’t the result of being in control. We believe in a sovereign God whose providence sustains and governs all creation. And when we chase control, what often results is anxiety rather than joy.
For believers, trusting God’s sustaining power brings freedom. He is the Good Shepherd leading us, the Great Physician tending our souls, the One who heals the lures of the world and guides our steps.
Jeremiah Burroughs writes,
“In all your abundance, learn thoroughly your utter dependence upon God.”
There is so much peace to be found in our financial anxieties when, instead of striving to control our world, we surrender our lives to God and live according to His good purposes (Proverbs 19:21; Psalm 37:5).
Burroughs continues,
“Now, if rich men would be so sensible of their condition that they depend on God for the enjoyment of what they have every moment and that they need mercy just as much as the poorest man on earth, this would help them greatly in learning how to abound.”
Happiness unfolds here—when we are satisfied in Christ, content in what God has given, and confident in what He is bringing to completion. When we depend on Him, we can abound, and joy is found not in control, but in trust.
Lord, teach us to rest in Your sovereignty, trusting You with what we cannot control and finding our joy in You alone.
5 Christ as the True Wealth
“Savings can be created by spending less. You can spend less if you desire less.”
—Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money
Housel’s advice is simple, almost deceptively so. Yet in its simplicity lies a profound truth: contentment grows when our desires are aligned rightly, when our hearts treasure what endures rather than the fleeting things of this world.
We cannot serve two masters. We will love one and hate the other.
For Burroughs, a Christian could find contentment in any circumstance if Christ Himself was his cherished possession.
“Learn the excellence of true riches, namely, spiritual riches.”
Scripture reminds us,
“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15).
Instead of treasuring the things of this world, we are called to store up treasures in heaven and to abound in good works. For it is better to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). Generosity reshapes not only our resources but our hearts:
“The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Cor. 9:6).
As Advent approaches, we are invited to live simply, to celebrate generosity, and to open our homes and hearts to others. Gifts, meals, hospitality, and acts of kindness are opportunities to reflect the light of Christ in a season often crowded with consumption.
Lord, help us to treasure You above all else, to desire less of this world, and to abound in the riches of Your grace.