Defining Financial Freedom

Kevin and I know that God has called us to lead more people into financial freedom.  The objective of this blog is to provide stories, resources, and information for more people to begin to experience financial freedom.  But what is financial freedom?

Some people may define financial freedom as no longer being in debt.  Others may define financial freedom as earning a certain income.  Still others may define financial freedom as no longer living paycheck to paycheck.  All of these are great indications that you desire to live in financial freedom and will provide a more personal definition of what financial freedom means to you.  For our purposes here, we're going to use scripture to help us define financial freedom.

We were not designed to live in financial bondage.  God did not place us on this earth and bless us with giftings and talents to work hard in order to be selfish with our money.  He made us stewards of His unlimited resources and entrusts us with all that we have.  However, He knew that we would fall to sin and find ourselves in financial bondage.  This is one of the reasons why Jesus focused much of His teaching on money and finances.  In Matthew 6:24 (MSG) Jesus defines financial bondage for us.  He says,  "You can't worship two gods at once.  Loving one god, you'll end up hating the other.  Adoration of one feeds contempts for the other.  You can't worship God and Money both." We cannot serve 2 masters!  Jesus said it and I believe it. It’s impossible to serve 2 masters.  We will get confused and chaos will happen.  And…  God will not share His throne.  If we chose to be a slave to money, He will allow us to pick that path.  Financial bondage is allowing money to take the place of God in our lives.  It becomes the center of our universe.  Money becomes an idol and when we live to serve it, we are in financial bondage.

Now that we have a definition of financial bondage, let's look at a picture of financial freedom.  The people of the first church experienced financial freedom.  Acts 4:32 (NLT) states “All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had.”  They lived as if what they owned was not their own!  Isn’t that amazing?  Everything that we have does not belong to us but is entrusted to us from God.  He provides us with all that we have and all that we need.  God created everything and He owns everything.  We are trustees.  A trustee has no rights, only responsibilities – the responsibility to care for what belongs to someone else. 

Reaching financial freedom requires an understanding that we own nothing but care for all that God has given us.  We are stewards.  We are not entitled and we don't deserve anything.  Can you imagine what our world would look like if everyone lived as if what they owned was not their own?  Those of you who have taken the courageous step to start the journey towards financial freedom can start the ripple effect that can change the world.

~Alesha