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| Photo by skambalu |
Many people want to put their personal financial life in a box and separate that out from their spiritual life. From the way my Bible reads, I don't believe God thinks that way, though. Our personal finances are intertwined into our spiritual life. The primary reason for this: our finances are owned by Almighty God. They're not our finances to begin with.
Spread throughout God's Word are "nuggets" of financial wisdom. It's been estimated that there are at least 800+ independent Bible passages directly related to handling God's money, God's way.
Take Proverbs 6:1-5 as an example:
My son, if you have become surety for your neighbor,Here, we have a strong wisdom warning to avoid debt and other financial entanglements. The wording of this passage makes it very clear that indebtedness to others is a very unwise position to be in. Biblical, Godly wisdom says to get out of debt as quickly as possible!
Have given a pledge for a stranger,
If you have been snared with the words of your mouth,
Have been caught with the words of your mouth,
Do this then, my son, and deliver yourself;
Since you have come into the hand of your neighbor,
Go, humble yourself, and importune your neighbor.
Give no sleep to your eyes,
Nor slumber to your eyelids;
Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hunter’s hand
And like a bird from the hand of the fowler (NASB).
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| Photo by chris.murphy |
The writer of Proverbs uses the analogy of getting out of debt to a gazelle escaping from a hunter. If you've ever watched any of the National Geographic nature shows, you've probably seen the beautiful gazelle being hunted down by the lightening fast cheetah. In order to escape from its hunter, the gazelle needs to move super fast in a zig-zag fashion. Hopefully, through a lot of hard work and "strategery," the gazelle can get away.
In the same way, those of us who are in debt would be wise to follow the example of the gazelle. If we want to escape, then we're going to have to "bust it." We're going to need to move strategically and as fast as possible to escape the crushing hardship that debt can be in our lives.
Debt Free Tools
There are many great tools to help you in a debt-free journey. There is certainly no shame in seeking out help from the various programs available as well as people resources. You can look into the following:
- Financial Peace University
- Dave Ramsey certified financial coaches
- Crown Financial Ministries
- The Top 20 Christian Financial Websites
How Are You Handling Your Finances?
So, how are you handling your finances? Are you using the wisdom of Proverbs? Are you "busting it" with gazelle intensity to get out of debt as quickly as possible?
If you aren't, what changes do you need to make in your personal finances? Who do you need to go see for some help? What program(s) do you need to look into to learn how to get a handle on your finances as quickly as possible?
Our current economy is not getting better. Now is the time to get going. Don't delay!
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