If You Want Your Whole Life to Get Better
Matt and I walked past a refrigerator in Costco a couple of days ago.
“Look at that nice fridge,” I said. “It only costs $1000.”
In the last few months, he has joined me in listening to the Ramsey podcasts, and we’ve really enjoyed talking through the phone calls they take. It’s a fun game to listen to a caller talk about his financial woes or success and come up with our own response before the Ramsey personalities have a chance to answer. We know we’ve really learned about finances when we come up with the same answer the Ramsey folks do and can explain our response.
One day we both listened to this woman call in and go on and on about her mountain of debt and all of the frustrating expenses that kept coming up. She was in obvious distress. She said her refrigerator went out, and she had to go into debt to buy a $3000 new fridge. Matt and I both had a cow. A $3000 fridge when you’re dying underneath your debt load? Are you kidding me? This woman was frustrated with debt but kept taking on more of it.
The question needs to be asked: How’s that workin’ for ya?
I came across the best passage in Romans 6 and have been meditating on it constantly: For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed?
Paul is asking, “Being completely free from the control of righteousness? How’s that workin’ for ya?”
What we all want, especially Americans, is to be free. No restraint. Nothing holding us back. Free to buy what we want when we want it. Free to shack up with a partner with no long-term commitment. Free to eat what sounds good and go back for seconds. But being free in regard to righteousness? Where does that get a person? Deeper in debt. Disappointed in relationships. Fighting health issues that could have been avoided.
I can tell you the benefits of giving up freedom and choosing to be a slave of righteousness. It means living in control of your money and sleeping better at night. It means having an emergency savings account and being your own bank when the unexpected happens. It means celebrating decades of joyful marriage with the same man you made vows to in your early 20s. It means feeling energetic because you’re eating nutritious food and limiting how much. It means going to church on Sundays when you could be out playing and instead enjoying indescribably sweet fellowship with other believers. This is the fruit of slavery to righteousness.
We live in Montana, so summer is a very special time when we actually get to enjoy some fresh fruit that grows here. Flathead Lake is flanked by cherry orchards, and we enjoy fresh huckleberries in July. Right now we’re eagerly watching our blackberry and raspberry bushes start to come alive with green leaves. We don’t have all of the fruit trees you southerners enjoy year ‘round. I remember Matt talking about visiting his grandma in California when he was young and eating avocados straight off of the tree. But fruit is a precious commodity where we live.
Let’s talk fruit. Are you still living free from the restraining power of righteousness? What fruit are you getting from that way of life? Is it everything you hoped it would be?
A $3000 fridge. I mean, that would sure be nice. But putting it on a credit card? Not having the control to do what is right and save up to pay cash for maybe a used fridge? No thanks. Here’s what my prayer has been lately: Jesus, give me the control of righteousness every day, all day. I’ll take that over the “freedom” of doing whatever I want and whatever feels good in the moment, because I have tasted the fruit of this glorious enslavement.
Time to evaluate the fruit in your life. Is it leading to death or leading to eternal life? Is it making you miserable or making your whole life better in every way? Where do you need to give up the deceivingly precious freedom that so many people in our culture chase with abandon and throw yourself instead under the control of the righteousness of God?
How do you factor in medical bills? Not all providers accept payment plans these days. My son, his wife, and their children often go without needed medical treatment because of this. How do unexpected medical expenses factor in?
What do we do when a major appliance breaks that we depend on daily, and we haven’t been budgeting? It’s SO hard today to make ends meet with costs of everything rising!
Asking seriously; looking for solid advice.
It’s good to take debt off of the table as an option. Debt is enslavement toward a lender. So then there is prayer and creativity and sometimes doing without.
As for the appliance, I would first ask if you can live without it until you can save up for it. If not, then pray and ask God to help you find a super cheap used one that will get you by for a season. Sometimes appliance repair businesses will fix up old appliances and sell them.
As for the medical, that is so hard. Especially as Americans, we feel very entitled that if we have an ailment, we deserve the best medical treatment immediately. But I think we’re all starting to find that what we need medically is simply not something we can afford. I know I was told to have a surgery within a month or two, but it was a year and a half before I had the cash to pay for it. What can we do except pray and save? I would ask if your son has medical insurance for his family? Christian Health Care Ministries can be an affordable option if not. And is there any assistance from the state for the children? Here in Montana there’s a program for kids, if the parents don’t make a lot of money. The only other idea I have is for the parents to take on extra side hustles, to save up for the procedures. I’m sorry for the pain of this situation.
Where do medical bills fall into play as far as debt? Also, when an appliance breaks suddenly, we don’t always have the funds readily available, especially if you are new to budgeting and saving.
Not to be rude or insensitive, but in many parts of the country, food, gas, and rent is outrageous. It’s hard to survive financially these days. We don’t all have the luxury of living with family.
If you’re new to budgeting and saving, then you’re living this verse perfectly. You’re moving into the true freedom that comes with living a righteous life. You’re starting to take control of your money and make wise choices with it. It’s extremely difficult to move in that direction under any circumstance but especially when the economy is pummeling you from every direction and then add medical bills onto that financial stress. I’m sorry for the medical bills. But Matt and I have walked that same journey, struggling to get literally five dollars at a time into an emergency savings account and and working for years to pay off student loans and credit cards. Even though it’s hard, it’s worth making one right decision after another.
This is so good I may borrow ideas from here for my hubby to share at our church!
That would make me happy!
Self discipline is the greatest form of self care. It truly is making making decisions today that bless our future selves 🤍
I have never heard that expression before, that self-discipline is really self care. What an amazing thought.