Hope is a projection of the imagination; so is despair. Despair all too readily embraces the ills it foresees; hope is an energy and arouses the mind to explore every possibility to combat them…In response to hope the imagination is aroused to picture every possible issue, to try every door, to fit together even the most heterogeneous pieces in the puzzle. After the solution has been found it is difficult to recall the steps taken—so many of them are just below the level of consciousness.
Thornton Wilder, American playwright and novelist
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt.
John Philpot Curran, Irish orator, lawyer and politician
We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 6:19-20 MSG
On a warm April day in 2002, a beautiful baby girl came into our lives. Hope Chloe was the answer to prayers, a gracious gift, and our longed-for child. She was our pudgy, giggly ball of warmth and love, wrapped in a miraculous gift following a season of sorrows. After two miscarriages and my brother’s sudden death only five weeks before my due date, I was looking for something better to come. We knew we would name her Hope. What we lost now seemed wrapped up in the expectation of this new life. If she came as we “hoped” she would, we wanted her to know she was the fulfilment of that longing. However, during my nine months of carrying her, I honestly doubted she would come. With days and months passing, my morning sickness grew into a burgeoning belly. Even though it was evident to all that a baby was to come, a small part of me wondered if it were really true. There was nothing physically wrong to cause me concern, but I was still carrying the scars of the previous losses. Should I hope that life would once again come into our lives? It wasn’t until I held Hope in my arms that I truly believed: love and hope had come in the form of this beautiful, bright, tiny person.
Hope. The four letter word that holds so much expectation. It bears the weight of people’s longings for something better to come. So small a word to carry so many things.
At More Than Enough (MTE), this word “hope” carries what drives our work, our purpose, and our calling. It also holds hands with another word we love—“freedom”. These two words help us express what we believe and what we do in our financial coaching company in bringing “hope for today and freedom for tomorrow”. This hope and freedom is exactly what I long for you to receive from working through this video series.
What are they?
Hope and freedom are two abstract nouns that represent what we long to live out in our practical, deep-breathing lives. Hope is to trust in, to wait for, to look for. Hope desires with expectancy something or someone that is yet to come. In God’s love, we have hope in all things (see 1 Corinthians 13:7 NKJV). In our finances, we hope that a brighter dawn will rise and we will have enough to pay the bills, save for our future, and live like our culture promises. We “hope” it will lead to freedom—a financial freedom that means we can live and give without hindrance or burden of debt. Freedom is not about the amount of money or stuff we accumulate but learning how to live with the resources we have been given to fulfil purposes, goals, and dreams. Financial freedom isn’t always about the money; it’s also about understanding what has a hold of our hearts—and what doesn’t.
Financial freedom is more than just having adequate material possessions and accumulating wealth. Yet, that is the world’s message. The world’s financial freedom is linked to a life without boundaries and consequences: do what you want, when you want, how you want. This kind of freedom has led many of us into debt as we desire to have what we want and have it now. Is this really what financial freedom means? Perhaps, freedom is simply being out of debt. You can still do what you want, when you want, but do it within the margin of your income.
When we consider financial freedom in light of our discipleship to Jesus, however, financial freedom takes on different hues of meaning that truly unleash us from serving the world, the money, and the financial economies that drive it. Within this financial freedom, we discover the faithfulness and trustworthiness of God. As we see Jesus trust His Father, so we learn to do the same thing, not just for our salvation but for the details of our daily financial lives. Though the world tells us to live without boundaries, Jesus gives us healthy guidelines for living that outline what truly is important. Many of these boundaries we find in Scripture where God encourages us to give to the poor, the lonely, the widow, to flee from debt, and to trust Him for daily provision. As we follow Jesus, and live according to His Way, our financial freedom journeys become a place of joy and contentment no matter if we have much material wealth or little. As sheep following a shepherd into the safe, gated, and fenced pastures of provision, we follow Jesus daily so we too can live, give, and save for the future as He sees fit. Financial freedom is daily manifested in trusting God.
| Financial Freedom means you are secure in the knowledge that there is ample provision to live the life you are called to live, as you discover God is the Source of all you own. It means you can live, give, and move without the hindrance or burden of debt, or other financial restraints and behaviours defined by the world’s values and economies. In Christ, we joyfully accept the boundaries of what we earn, where we live, and His daily unfolding plan for our lives, including the financial plan. It isn’t about fulfilling the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, but learning to align with what God says is important. To be free is to be apprenticed to Christ in thought, word, and deed, and to discover the truths found in living intimately with our Heavenly Father. |