For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.
The following is an excerpt from Building Your Financial Fortress in 52 Days: The Lessons of Nehemiah.
The enemy is within, the permanent resident in our hearts that is the DNA for all financial failure. It lies dormant until it is awakened by the stimulation of greed. Not many would use the word greed to describe their financial actions. Words like savvy investments, moderate risk, growth positions, and even helping people sound much more commendable.
But in Nehemiah’s time, the day of full disclosure came screeching to a literal stop. The people could be attacked at any moment. They were threatened by an unknown enemy that lurked in the night; they were in danger and worked constantly to build up the exposed and vulnerable places behind their homes, and now, after about a month of this, the bills were due. The real world. You know, the Monday after the sermon that inspired you, the reality of your beliefs is put to the test.
Almost a thousand years after Nehemiah, men, women, children, and entire families in Ghana would be corralled like cattle, a thousand at a time. They were forced by merchants of greed to pass through a narrow doorway, never to return. Three million Africans were violently abducted—families experiencing each other’s love, working and developing their skills together, living their lives. And then the great holocaust of the 1600’s and 1700’s occurred and they were herded through a single doorway that now reads: “Door of No Return.” Not only in Ghana, but capturing countless souls from other abduction ports as well.
These profiteers sold human beings as machines. Human trafficking at its most elaborate and most organized. Opportunists from all corners of the globe cashed in on the financial gain. Many who called themselves “Christians.”
How could a Christian force 1000 Africans into a hull of a ship and sell or buy other humans without considering Paul’s words in a letter he wrote to the church in Philippi, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
Are Christians immune to sin? No, unfortunately. Perhaps the most popular, yet most socially acceptable, sin in most Christian circles is greed. Greed is not good, but it ain’t bad, so we harbor it in our hearts. This is what we have all heard: “We have to make a living.”
“I am not a greedy person; I just like nice things.”
“To be a Christ-kid I will name it and claim it and live with great abundance.”
However, since the beginning of recorded history, the desire for money has an hallucinogenic effect on us and, as a result, has turned countless humans from the faith and pierced them with many a grief.
May the atrocities of the past never be forgotten, and, more importantly, may they never be repeated. This can only take place by being true followers of Christ. Education about slavery will remind us of our heinous crimes against humanity, but will not prevent new generations from similar sins.
The only remedy is to truly follow Christ and His example. He showed us the most basic way to live when He said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.” There is a debt to pay to those who have been wronged—a debt that should never be paid off, and payments should be made daily. It is the debt to love one another more than ourselves. Let’s start paying this enormous and very delinquent debt.
Nehemiah’s people thought they were surviving. They did what they had to do in their own understanding of finance. This meant, “If I have something you need you can borrow it with interest. I need to survive too.” This practice takes time-tested business principles and merges them into everyday, family life. The problem is that it leaves no room for faith and a God that honors such faith.
Nehemiah’s people knew all too well about being treated as dollar-store items, and traded like baseball cards. Years earlier they were pardoned, bought back, and liberated from the tyranny of slavery.
But what happened next is a scheme only perfected by the evil one. Not one of Nehemiah’s people would have condoned slavery when they were oppressed, but when faced with the opportunity to lend to their own brothers, and perhaps to make a meager profit, they opened the door to great opportunity for a familiar pain. After a short while the have-nots were in debt to the haves, and falling deeper into bondage.
It is your turn. With eyes wide open to where you are or where you are going, it is time to stop the train that is on the wrong track or has already derailed, and do it God’s way financially. You do not have to be enslaved to the bondage of debt, greed, or any other lesser gods.
What to do next? Come back next week...
The rich rules over the poor,
And the borrower becomes the lender's slave. (Proverbs 22:7)
I love it when people tell me that borrowing is not enslavement.
I will need to look into Nehemiah more closely.
Posted by: Matt | February 26, 2012 at 03:00 PM