Have you ever heard about stingy people? Are they stingy or just economical?
Well, there is a very great difference between being economical and just parsimonious. A miserly person is someone who is unwilling to spend, give or even share. Just not on themselves and not on others as well. An economist, on the other hand, is more of a manager. They manage resources with frugality, expend money, time, or labor judiciously and without waste.
It is already clear that being economical is desirable and you’ve probably heard that how you make money is just as important as how you spend it, right?

So, what happens when you are tempted to spend needlessly?

At times we have thought that expenditure of sums that look small, (the dress along the streets of Nairobi, that ka earphone not planned for…) have no effect on us but in the real sense, they may start a train of circumstances that will reach into eternity. The amounts daily spent in needless things with the thought, “it’s only a coin” seems very little; but multiply these littles by days of the year, and as the years go by, the array of figures will seem almost incredible.
You know what, few have moral stamina to resist that temptation, especially of the appetite, and to practice self-denial. To some, it’s a temptation too strong to be resisted. You see others having a three-course meal, and you imagine you are hungry when in reality the feeling is not a call of the stomach for food, but a desire of the mind that has not been fortified with firm principle and discipline to self-denial.
We are not as hopeless if this has been our practice because we can do a few things to save our tomorrow.

What ought we do then?

How about we begin practicing economy from principle? Remember penuriousness is abuse of God’s bounties.
Learn when to spare and when to spend. It’s not best to pretend to be rich or anything above what we are. Proudly followers of the meek and lowly savior. We are not to feel disturbed if our neighbors get their wardrobe from Mr. Price when we can only afford X-shop.
Also, the walls of self-control and self-restriction should not in a single instance be weakened and broken down. Paul, the apostle to the gentiles says, “I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached will be a castaway.”
And finally, ask yourself; How must Jesus look upon my selfish provisions for the indulgence of appetite, to please my guests or even satisfy my own inclination!
It’s actually a snare to us to aim at making a display.

References
John 6:12-13
Luke 3:13
1st Corinthians 9:27
AH 381
4T 573