Freedom From Financial Bondage

Its FINANCIAL FRIDAY with TRIBESMAN EPHRAIM

Series: Freedom from financial bondage.

Financial bondage is usually the result of incorrect beliefs about money. You profess to be a follower of Christ and yet your financial habits have been conformed to the world system. That is why it’s important to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Romans 12:2 "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

Because what you believe changes how you behave. If you change what you believe about money - turning away from what the culture wants you to believe and towards what God wants to teach you - you will be transformed, radically changed from inside out.

Financial bondage can grow out of lack of money, overspending and misunderstanding of how money is to be spent. But borrowing and debt is the most common pathway into financial bondage.

Picture this: you have been imprisoned for years. After some hard work, you have found a way out. You know when the guards change shift, how to sneak out of the cell, and where to find that hole in the fence. There's just a hitch... the 50kg iron ball chained to your ankle.

Let me ask: is escape possible? Sure you can burst out, but sooner or later, the prison guards are going to notice that you have gone missing and they will come after you. You are not going to move very quickly with a weight shackled to your ankle. You will never make it that long with something heavy weighing you down, your oppressors will catch you before you can rid yourself of the weight.

So it is with debt and borrowing, a financial problem that has become so commonplace, that it is the norm of Christian families, businesses and even the government. If you don't know, debt slows down a lot.

What's wrong with debt? Well, everything! I once heard someone say that “DEBT IS USING YOUR FUTURE TO PAY YOUR PAST”. And the Bible makes it clear that debt puts us into financial slavery.

Proverbs 22:7  "The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender".

We tend to think that using debts is the best way to make big purchases, from education, cars and everything in between.

THE REALITY: Debt actually lessens our buying power since the interest that we may pay to service the debt adds up to much more than the cost of the item we purchased.

For those of you trying to run to godly financial freedom, debt can be one of the biggest things encumbering us. It’s like trying to run with that 50kg weight. You can do it but you will never be as fast or effective as you were made to.

There is a dirty little secret in many of our lives that is robbing us of peace, damaging our witness and destroying our spiritual vigour. I'm referring to a plague that we rarely acknowledge until it has done its damage. I call it STUFFITISM. [Don’t bother checking your dictionary, it’s my word]. This is the urge or craving that drives us from the inside to buy things we don't need, with the money we don't have, to impress people we don't like. Imagine! As a result many are drowning in debt today.

The fact is we live in a world system that often is not consistent with the Christian ethic. The world says happiness comes with acquisition, but God says Joy comes with contentment. Far too often we Christians buy into the world's philosophy.

Think of it this way: the more you owe, the less the money you have to give in times of offering and even tithe in church. The more money you spend servicing debt, the less you can afford to invest in building a solid financial future. Honesty requires us to shine a bright light on this shadowy financial subject.

I wonder if there's an eleventh commandment which states: "Thou shalt borrow". It must be hidden right? How else would you account for something that so many Christians practice so religiously? For most of us debt and borrowing are as deeply entrenched in our tradition just as Sunday service. Our God-fearing parents taught us to borrow and we are passing the tradition along to the next generation. (Living by borrowing, schooling by borrowing, buying cars etc by borrowing)

Let's face it: Christians like borrowing money - we simply can't imagine life without it.

The problem is that God is not so fond of debt: in fact He hates it. Why? Because debt is one of the enemy's chief ways of tying Gods people up in financial bondage. If you don't believe me check Prov. 22:7 again.

I can hear your protests now.

THE PESSIMIST: "But everybody borrows money… there is just no way to get through life without borrowing every now and then".

THE PRAGMATIST: "There's nothing wrong with using credit as a tool, as long as you are responsible with it”, and

THE ECONOMIST: "I have an excellent credit score and have never missed a payment. I'm a good customer, and my spending helps me keep the economy afloat. How could that be wrong?”

Unfortunately, we have filled our heads with so much of the world’s financial "wisdom" that we have forgotten what God really says about debt and borrowing. The truth is God didn't create debt, and He has a long track-record of moving from heaven to earth to see that debts we incur get wiped out. After all, isn't that what Jesus did on the cross? Still, many of today's Christians have made large debts a permanent part of their lives. We are so content to carry around tens or even hundreds of thousands of debts, for decades at a time... as long as we make monthly payments or as the case maybe.

God warns repeatedly to stay away from it. It is time that we stand up and take notice. Debt is not a part of God’s plan for your life. So if you are still living in debt, don't just rationalize it... do something about it!

DON'T USE YOU FUTURE TO PAY FOR YOUR PAST.

Till next Friday, we will be looking intently at what God says concerning debts and borrowing, how it affects our faith and how we can be free from it.

God bless you.