What’s so bad about being in Financial Bondage?

In the last few posts we have talked about financial bondage. We discussed some of the symptoms the Bible mentions that could be indicators we are living in financial bondage. We saw that past due bills, lack of savings, hoarding and a get-rich-quick mindset can indicate financial bondage. Add to these the symptoms that we discussed before; too much debt, impulsive purchases and misusing credit cards and the list becomes pretty long and personal. We get to the point that most of us are seeing some of these symptoms in our lives and start to realize that yes, to some degree we are in financial bondage.

But is it really that bad? Does God really care if we are in financial bondage? After all First Timothy 6:17b says …"God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment"; so isn't it ok that we have the nice car, take nice vacations and wear designer clothes? And it is really that important that we bought them impulsively and ran our credit cards to the limit in the process? I for one believe that God does care and it is that bad.

When we discussed hoarding we said that God might bless us to meet someone else's need. This is one of the ways that God uses money to unify the church. How many times in your church when a mom is sick, do the ladies rally together to provide meals for the family? In this way God is using money to unify the church.

But did you ever think that those needs may not be physical needs; they may be spiritual needs? Or that the needs might not be in your church, they may be in your community or in the world. God may be blessing us to meet the spiritual needs of the world through fulfilling the Great Commission. And we and our churches are unable to respond because we as members of the Body of Christ are in financial bondage.

Matthew 5:16 says "Let your light shine before men in such as way that they may see your good works, and glorify you Father who is in heaven." Doors are open in parts of the world like Africa and South America like never before. The Holy Spirit is prompting churches to send missionaries to not only those locations but to our local communities and the rest of the world. But we don't send them because our missionary budgets are empty.

As the Holy Spirit prompts churches to fulfill the Great Commission, the church is unable to respond because we are in financial bondage. The Bible is clear (Ephesians 4:30; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; and Acts 7:51) that the result of not following the prompting of the Holy Spirit is to grieve, quench and resist Him. We put our churches in a position of grieving, quenching and resisting the leading of the Holy Spirit because we as the members of the body of Christ are in financial bondage.

As believers in Christ we are on this earth to fulfill the Great Commission and yes, God does care when our financial bondage results in His church being unable to fulfill the Great Commission.