Jesus saves, Money slaves

"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." Luke 16:13

Well, I finally did get in that prayer (see previous posts). Dave and I prayed together Saturday night. I prayed that God would show me where I need to make changes in my life. I should have looked ahead at the sermon for Sunday... We are in the middle of our "Silent Alarms" series. The premise is that there are small alarms going off in our lives constantly, an we choose to hit the snooze alarm instead of listen to God. So when I show up to church and they focus on the money alarm, it was like being slapped in the face.

Here I am at a financial crossroads in my life. Dave and I have debt to pay off, remodeling we want to do, and another personal issue that could cost lots of money in the back of our minds. What does God want us to do? I left church knowing that I was NOT supposed to take out a home equity loan to remodel just yet. That meant a ... (I dread this word) ... budget.

I took out some paperwork, went through my check book and did some math and a spreadsheet. I figured out where most of our "lost" money goes to (eating out) and where we could really cut back (the grocery store) and how much extra we have left after paying the bills, tithing, and giving to NEXT (I won't say on the internet).

I keep thinking of our pastor, Tim Sutherland, with a credit card chained to his wrist. That is me! I go to work for them, not me! Something has got to change. I am NOT going to be enslaved to my credit card. I take it out of my wallet. "CHASE FREEDOM" it says. Freedom, freedom for who? Satan works at the ad agencies telling us that credit cards set us free, and here we are getting enslaved to them! I turn on the TV. Having a bad day? Get a pedicure, a pair of shoes to show off your pedicure, and oooh, a new dress to show off your new shoes and pedicure. The freedom to be you? NOT PRICELESS, but enslavement to your Master(card).

Suddenly the conspiracy is all around me, and I see it! Serve money, and have no time, or effort, or gee, money to serve God.

This alarm is silent no more! This budget is not something to fear, but a tool to help me get these shackles off of me! It is hard, but I will not be afraid.

Hebrews 13:5-6a: "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid..."

Check out Silent Alarm by John Blumberg or any of CCC sermons on snoozing (meet my friend "clocky") or money (this one has some really good stuff, hang tight through the commercial at the beginning, even a SNL sketch) available online or by clicking my links.