I’m preparing a lesson for tomorrow night’s Bible study that I lead, we’re going through a series on the body and the believer and we’re covering Romans chapter 12 which has been a very rich passage to say the least.  I’m looking at verse 12, which says:

rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,

In personal finance we often get discouraged.  In personal finance the emergencies come up.  In personal finance you need to submit your financial walk to the Lord through prayer and meditation on biblical principles as outlined in the scripture.

Rejoicing in hope

Knowing that 100 years from now, 1,000 years from now, or 1 minute from now your identification is with Christ (Colossians 3:1-4) gives you hope.  If you’re not looking forward, then you’re not hoping.  Hope is faith in things to come - whether its the rejoicing in paying off debt and no longer having the bondage of payments to others and being able to be a fuller steward of God’s money, or thinking of the things that the money can be used for to glorify His name it is a great thing to have hope.  We’re often discouraged in life when trials come, but the trials are for our growth (James 1:1-4; I Thes. 3:3) so we can rejoice even in them.

Persevering in tribulation

Perseverance is diligant abiding in a place while pressure seems to come from all sides.  Tribulation comes, as stated above, for our growth.  The world sees pressure as a detriment, but we’re called to have a mindset that see’s God’s plan in all of these things that distract us and call us away from patience and longsuffering.  When you dip into your emergency fund (and I’ve had to do that far too often in the last few months) - persevere.  When your car gets a flat, your fridge goes out, or your kid breaks an arm: persevere.  The reliance on God that comes during times of tribulation should leave us understanding our closeness to Him rather than feeling alone.  It should show us the strength of our relationships in Christ with other believers.  It should be a great blessing to see the tribulation turn into a tool instead of a valley of toil.

Devoted to prayer

Prayer is often presented as begging God for some thing, some action or some event to take place.  But instead we should understand that it is powerfully deep and encouraging relationship.  Who you are in Christ gives you immediate access to God the Father for immediate, constant and intimate fellowship with Him. And that’s something money can’t buy.

So, you can see that I’m excited about this passage - maybe some time you can swing by the Tuesday night study and we’ll rejoice in our hope (which is in Christ), encourage one another through our trials, and pray for one another.  It’ll be great.

As I had mentioned in an earlier post I’ve had a paradigm shift in how I look at credit cards.  My past attitude is that credit cards were evil without much in the way of exception.  I don’t have the same strong opinion any more.  Before I’m struck down with hate email or comments with great intensity let me clarify that most people who don’t like credit cards, when provoked to a good, long think, will agree with me.  The credit cards that get abused are a symptom!  Just like money isn’t evil by itself, credit cards are not evil by themselves.  If you pay off your credit card each and every month and maximize your return on the credit card’s reward program then the credit card is not a problem for you.

The symptom of debt is actually a symptom of the root problem: lack of self control.  If you understand where your finances are and you maximize your use of the card within the constraints of your budget, you might be able to pay for your family’s vacation in rewards.  James, a long time reader of my blogging (I don’t recall how James found me, but I’ve been grateful for the things I’ve learned from him and his commenting), actually left a comment stating that’s what he does some time ago.

My dad, a financially astute guy, uses his Discover card for as many expenses as he can and maximizes his rewards this way.  I have to admit to thinking this was crack smoking crazy until I realized that I was putting the blame on the wrong thing.  I’m not recommending everyone get as many credit cards as they can or that folks use credit cards if they can’t control themselves when they have access to the credit cards, but I am saying that I recognize that my previous stance was legalism.  As Romans 14:23b states: “…whatever is not from faith is sin.”  Don’t spend a dime that is not spent in reliance on the Lord.  This could be spent virtually with a credit card or literally with cash, but if you’re doing it out of compulsion and not in the abiding life of Christ, then its not the right attitude or way to be spending money in the first place!

This isn’t just a paradigm shift, this is a right-aligning with what the word of God teaches about walking by faith.  If I make a law about credit cards then I have failed to see the fullness of my relationship with Christ in the area I have created the law in.  I died to the law and the nature of the law when I was identified in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection.  I’m going to pay off my credit cards, cancel all but one, and then as I abide in Christ, I’ll focus on my heavenly relationship, knowing those earn eternal rewards, and use the Discover to maximize the earthly rewards which might just be used to help those in need (Romans 12:13).

Genesis chapter four always scared me as a kid.  The brothers Cain & Able were at odds because of their sacrifices offered to God.  Here they were supposed to be focusing on their relationship with God, but instead of identifying opportunities for growth, Cain goes and offs his brother.  The sacrifices identify the recognition of man’s need for something to take away the penalty of sin (which could only be done through the Messiah), and yet this sacrifice brings about jealousy and then murder.

Jealousy is something that I have had on occasion.  Particularly when it comes to technological contraptions and devices.  I don’t get jealous about houses or cars, but if you whip out a Mac Book Air, I’m going to have some serious envy.  Not enough to kill you for, but it will make me question my commitment to being debt free.  I could almost justify getting into further debt because of my pure lust for the next cool thing.  Of course the problem with greed and jealousy is that they’re not satiated.  You can’t satisfy them because they are only temporarily stayed.  Instead, we just find the next thing to fixate on.

As a Christian I need to be beholding Christ.  II Corinthians 3:18 says

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

This passage is worthy of an entire book as we look at the amazing content it reveals, but instead of fixating on earthly things, we’re called to behold the glory of the Lord (See Also Colossians 3:1-3).  If we’re beholding the Lord we’ll not find our lusts overpowering, we’ll not find jealousy to have any substance, instead we’ll find our fulfillment in being transformed into the image of Christ from glory to glory.  That’s much better than greed, jealousy and murder any day.