debt...freedom deferment
we've been going through a financial planning course called "crown financial planning" which has helped put a lot of things in perspective for me. like most americans, our family has lived beyond our means with the aid of plastic. we would run up debt on things we didn't really need and then wonder where all our money had gone. fact is, we were paying hundreds of dollars a month on minimum payments and interest charges. crazy how fast it happens. but i've been thinking a lot about the freedom that comes with sound financial planning and budgeting. i guess this really hit hard this morning because i was reading in james 4 where he says, "what causes fights and quarrels among you? don't they come from your desires that battle within you? you want something but don't get it. you kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. you quarrel and fight. you do not have, because you do not ask God. when you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."
of course, the reason why most of us work in the first place is so that we can have. we have to pay the essential bills, but we want better jobs so that we can have better stuff. i guess to some degree that isn't terrible, except that we don't know where to stop. get a little...want a little more...and more...and more. sooner or later, we all end up in the same place: up to our eyeballs in debt.
i want more for me and my family. i want freedom for them. not only freedom from debt, but freedom from want. we are slaves to want--never truly satisfied because there is always something else to get. this really hit me this morning hard because just as i was reading this and contemplating the implications, karen came in and told me the bad news about how tight our financial situation is this week. why? because we're paying hundreds of dollars to credit companies for stuff we don't even remember buying months ago! this is the financial freedom that plastic companies promise.
anyway, the change that i was talking about earlier is regarding contentment. in case it's not apparent yet, i am a firm believer in God and am a follower of Jesus Christ. my faith is the most important thing to me and is sometimes the only thing that sustains me. yet i must confess how badly my indebtedness testifies against my faith in Christ. i am what james was talking about...one who is a victim of want. I ask, but do not receive because of bad motives. so, the change is that we're committed to biting the bullet and, as dave ramsey says, attacking our debt in order to become free from this bondage. if we truly want peace, there must be freedom. i've finally realized that financial freedom is just a fantasy if it is attained through payment deferment...it's the cloud through which the sun can never really shine.
of course, the reason why most of us work in the first place is so that we can have. we have to pay the essential bills, but we want better jobs so that we can have better stuff. i guess to some degree that isn't terrible, except that we don't know where to stop. get a little...want a little more...and more...and more. sooner or later, we all end up in the same place: up to our eyeballs in debt.
i want more for me and my family. i want freedom for them. not only freedom from debt, but freedom from want. we are slaves to want--never truly satisfied because there is always something else to get. this really hit me this morning hard because just as i was reading this and contemplating the implications, karen came in and told me the bad news about how tight our financial situation is this week. why? because we're paying hundreds of dollars to credit companies for stuff we don't even remember buying months ago! this is the financial freedom that plastic companies promise.
anyway, the change that i was talking about earlier is regarding contentment. in case it's not apparent yet, i am a firm believer in God and am a follower of Jesus Christ. my faith is the most important thing to me and is sometimes the only thing that sustains me. yet i must confess how badly my indebtedness testifies against my faith in Christ. i am what james was talking about...one who is a victim of want. I ask, but do not receive because of bad motives. so, the change is that we're committed to biting the bullet and, as dave ramsey says, attacking our debt in order to become free from this bondage. if we truly want peace, there must be freedom. i've finally realized that financial freedom is just a fantasy if it is attained through payment deferment...it's the cloud through which the sun can never really shine.
Labels: David C. Price
posted by DAVID C. PRICE at 11/05/2004 10:06:00 AM
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