Let Freedom Ring!

As July 4th approaches, my thoughts are drawn to the concept of freedom.  We were created to experience and live in freedom.  From the first day humans were created, God instilled in us free will, and all throughout scripture you see God's desire for us to live in freedom.

Many of us though choose various forms of bondage in our lives.  Considering this is a finance blog, I will deal with one form of bondage that holds a majority of Americans, DEBT.  According to the Census Bureau, the median debt owed increased by nearly $20,000 since 2000, and that's after being adjusted for inflation.  I guess the song "Sixteen Tons" was right, "another year older and deeper in debt".

We were not created to live in bondage and God is clear that debt is bondage.  Proverbs 22:7 says "the borrower is slave to the lender", yet in our infinite wisdom we say to leverage debt to make money.  That works for a short amount of time and then eventually blows up.  It happened in the 1929 stock market crash, when people were borrowing up to 90% of the money needed to buy stocks, and we did it again with the recent housing market crash.  I and many others are now wishing we had heeded God's warning.

Let me encourage you to live a different way.  One that gives you freedom from your lenders and allows you to live better.  You CAN get out of debt!  After paying off $40,000 in debt, my wife and I have an extra $1,000 a month to be used for giving, savings, retirement, or spending.  It was like receiving a $12,000 a year raise.  In fact, it was actually more because focusing on getting out of debt helped control our other spending as well.  We still have the house to pay off, but we removed some large shackles from our monthly income.

There is freedom available, but it takes planning, determination, and hard work.  Gaining freedom always requires sacrifice, but it's worth it on the other side.  Like I said earlier, we were created to live in freedom.  One of my favorite scriptures is Galatians 5:1 which says "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."  If you're in bondage, get out, and if you are debt-free, stand firm and don't let yourself become a slave.  Now is your time to let freedom ring!

If you need help getting started, check out these blog posts:
   Financial Health - Where To Begin?
   Budgeting Basics