Not heaven bound

No sooner has we walked into the tiny living room then we were handed beautiful demitasse cups filled with thick sweet Cuban coffee. Rosa led me to their front desk, where we settled into chairs for conversation, sipping espresso. She spoke English well and so we discussed children, her job, and the neighborhood.

Soon her husband poked his head out the door. “I would like to show you our back yard.”

So we set down our cups to step through the tiny house and view his backyard, which was little more than a large deck with some potted plants. The wood was scrubbed clean and the plants were strong and healthy.

A few pieces of clothing hung on a line across the deck and Rosa pointed at the little washing machine wedged under a corner of the roof. “That’s where I wash,” she said.

“Our driver is here!” my husband said suddenly. “We need to go.”

And so we quickly said goodbyes and headed for the street. Then I remembered the espresso cup. It was a beautiful piece of china that I didn’t want left on the front step.

I scurried over to find it and hand it to Rosa. “I didn’t want this to get lost. It is so beautiful!”

She smiled gently. “It’s OK,” she said to me. “It doesn’t matter. It won’t go to heaven.”

And in that moment, I felt stripped of much of the American materialism I had brought with me.

So that’s my new motto: “Will this go to heaven?” If not, it doesn’t matter. I might enjoy it for the moment but it needn’t have a hold on my life.

Jesus said it simply:

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Freedom Finance: happy?

Even the envelope was professionally enthusiastic while the letter exuded energy, announcing that our credit card limit was now raised to $15,000 and we were eligible for instant cash. Sure enough, tucked in behind the sheet of paper was a large check made out to my husband for $10,000.

Easy street, right?

The fine print hid the interest rate of 18.9% plus the cash advance fee of another $35. That $10,000 instant cash would have cost us nearly $1,900 in interest the first year. Not so free.

My husband called the credit card company, told them to reduce the limit to $5,000 and turned the check into confetti.

Ours is a consumer economy, driven by purchases. The more you buy, the more the economy grows. It’s all built on sand, of course.

The average consumer in America has over $9000 in credit card debt and half pay only the minimum monthly payment. Americans pay over $50 billion in interest each year and 1.3 million credit card holders declared bankruptcy last year.

Last week we discussed contentment, because lusting after new possessions produces this kind of debt. If you find that you fill those emotional empty places with stuffed shopping bags, you may be familiar with credit card debt.

This week, notice your contentment level. How many items have you bought because you wanted them that instant or you gave in to an in-store advertising trick? How much stuff are you storing because you bought on a whim, thinking this purchase would be honey on the sore places of your soul?

Paul wrote, “I'm just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little.”[1]

And how did he learn that contentment?

“I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”[2]

So can we.

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[1] Phil 4:12

[2] Phil 4:13

Freedom Finances: contentment

A cold chill crept through Timothy as he read the letter. He’d expected encouragement and direction but this…..

“But if it's only money these leaders are after, they'll self-destruct in no time[1],” Paul had written.

Timothy understood that he couldn’t allow worship of money, but did Paul expect him to alienate these leaders? They came, put money in the offering plate, helped finance the ministries, helped pay his salary.

What did Paul want him to say?

“If we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that's enough,[2]” Paul wrote.

That’s enough? What about the TV and microwave? Those are basics, right? And then the second car and the health club membership and the pizza when I’m too tired to cook.

And then the kids need Ipods and cell phones.

How could bread and shoes be enough?

Don’t let legalism creep in here. Paul wasn’t attacking 20^th century way of life, but he did attack discontentment.

As we study financial freedom, this is the foundation. Can we be content with less? Can we resist the manipulation of advertising?

When discontentment wafts into our lives, do we shop or pray?

Your priorities show up in your checkbook – or credit card bill, in our culture.

The path to financial freedom starts with contentment. Jesus promised to provide for our daily bread. And Paul says if we have bread and shoes, we’re good to go.

“Lust for money brings trouble,[3]” Paul advised Timothy, who was trying to stay afloat among the wealth of Ephesus.

Trouble today is spelled D-E-B-T.

“But you…: Run for your life from all this. Pursue a righteous life— a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith.”

1 Tim 6:11-12

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[1] 1 Tim 6:9

[2] 1 Tim 6:8

[3] 1 Tim 6:10