Financial freedom…what exactly does this mean?
What kind of freedom is it we are seeking from our finances? Freedom from debt? Freedom from financial obligations altogether? Freedom to buy what we want when we want?
Generally speaking, I think most people understand this to mean the freedom from worrying about finances and begin enslaved to worry and anxiety over them. All in all, not a bad thing. But the advice we get from most Christian money advisors seems to run contrary to the teaching of Jesus.
The guys on the radio and TV all basically tell us the same thing: Pay off your debt and put enough away into savings and retirement accounts so you don’t have to worry about your financial future. Two problems here. First, it centers our trust in the amount of our checking/savings/retirement accounts. Second, it seems to run counter to some direct teachings of Jesus (Luke 12:13-34) where he calls the rich man who builds bigger store houses for his wealth a fool for trusting in his stored up riches.
Much of today’s advice on financial freedom tells us freedom comes from having enough stuff put away so we don’t have to worry. But Jesus tells us our problem is that we think we can find freedom by having enough stuff put away. It would seem then that much of today’s advice on financial freedom actually pushes us in the direction of what Jesus would call enslavement.
I really appreciate this post. I have had it drummed in my head my whole life by my family to work hard and save for a rainy day. Not BAD advice really. Or is it? It seems to me that having financial freedom is more about what you can live without or give away than it is about not having to worry about whether you can afford something.
It is not a bad thing to save money but hoarding is altogether different. Afterall, ministries would not get off the ground without benefactors. The real trick is to get to a place where you are not worshipping money but instead you are worshipping with your money.