And how much can one wisely spend?  Not as much as you might think—­not nearly as much as some have tried to spend.  No matter how honestly money may be acquired, one is not free to spend it at will.  We are hedged about by certain restrictions that we can neither remove nor ignore.  God has written certain laws in our nature—­laws that no legislature can repeal—­laws that no court can declare unconstitutional, and these laws limit us in our expenditures.

Let us consider some of the things for which we can properly spend money.  We need food—­we all need food, and we need about the same amount; not exactly, but the difference in quantity is not great.  The range in expenditure is greater than the range in quantity, because expenditure covers kind and quality as well as quantity.  But there is a limit even to expenditure.  If a man eats too much he suffers for it.  If he squanders his money on high-priced foods, he wears his stomach out.  There is an old saying which we have all heard, viz., “The poor man is looking for food for his stomach, while the rich man is going from one watering place to another looking for a stomach for his food.”  This is only a witty way of expressing a sober truth, namely, that one is limited in the amount of money he can wisely spend for food.

We need clothing—­we all need clothing, and we need about the same amount.  The difference in quantity is not great.  The range in expenditure for clothing is greater than the range in quantity, because expenditure covers style and variety as well as quantity, but there is a limit to the amount of money one can wisely spend for clothing.  If a man has so much clothing that it takes all of his time to change his clothes, he has more than he needs and more than he can wisely buy.

We need homes—­we all need shelter and we need about the same amount.  In fact, God was very democratic in the distribution of our needs, for He so created us that our needs are about the same.  The range of expenditure for homes is probably wider than in the case of either food or clothing.  We are interested in the home.  I never pass a little house where two young people are starting out in life without a feeling of sympathetic interest in that home; I never pass a house where a room is being added without feeling interested, for I know the occupants have planned it, and looked forward to it and waited for it; I like to see a little house moved back and a larger house built, for I know it is the fulfillment of a dream.  I have had some of these dreams myself, and I know how they lead us on and inspire us to larger effort and greater endeavour, and yet there is a limit to the amount one can wisely spend even for so good a thing as a home.

If a man gets too big a house it becomes a burden to him, and many have had this experience.  Not infrequently a young couple start out poor and struggle along in a little house, looking forward to the time when they can build a big house.  After a while the time arrives and they build a big house, larger, possibly, than they intended to, and it nearly always costs more than they thought it would, and then they struggle along the rest of their lives looking back to the time when they lived in a little house.