Financial Freedom and Financial Security

Everyone talks about financial freedom and financial security…always out of reach.

To me, financial freedom is not having more money than I know what to do with. (How can I be sure that my appetite will not balloon along with my paychecks?) And, to me, financial security is not being one hundred percent sure that I will always have more money than I know what to do with. (Such surety simply cannot exist in this world of disasters, small and large, on Wall Street and in the natural world. You just never know.)

Rather, I have found that financial freedom is achieved little by little, by being freed in my heart from the innate love of money — whether I love it saved in my bank or spent on my new designer handbag. It is the freedom bought by little sacrifices everyday to spend and give and save within my means today. Like civil and religious and racial liberties, financial freedom is not without cost. It is the freedom of contentedness — contentedness that comes from comparison to those who have less than me, which turns my heart toward gratefulness. Only discontentment can come from comparison to those who have more than me, enslaving my heart again to long and wish and hope and pray for more money.

Financial security is knowing that neither I, nor my boss, nor my husband, nor my husband’s boss is my ultimate provider. Only One has promised to provide all that I need. And He is the One who owns the cattle on a thousand hills. If I have any complaints about my needs not being met, I can take them straight to Him.

Lord, let me see my true needs. Then, set me free from the reign of finances in my head and heart over the million things I want and think I deserve. Free me from comparing my finances to whatever I perceive others’ finances to be. Give me the self-discipline to spend and give and save within my means today. Help me to see that I am only secure because I’m in Your family and You take care of your family. Amen.