I did the same thing with this post as I did with the "Caleigh-fornia" post....I'm a dork. :)
Today's lesson at church was about living the radical life Jesus called us to, and I have really been struggling with this idea lately because a lot of my friends are reading the book Radical. Radical is about living radically in the biblical sense, leaving all you have and following after Christ. And I couldn't agree more. We should live a totally radical life that brings glory to God. But, I have also been doing a lot of research about paying off debt and how that relates (if at all) to biblical principles. As I have posted before, there are many scriptures about our responsibility to pay off our debt and once paid off to live debt free. So I have been feeling very torn about what we are supposed to do and how we are supposed to do it.
After today's lesson I found Paston David and just asked him, "Where do you find balance between living radically and living responsibly?" I expected him to tell me that radical living comes first, period. But he didn't. He said the answer to that question is TIME. He continued by saying, "At this time you are living biblically by paying off your debt and not being a slave to your past and debt. At this time you are living responsibly by paying off the debt you owe, and in time you will be able to live radically." It made me feel good about what John and I have been doing lately, because I haven't felt a call to live radically...yet. I have though, felt a HUGE call to pay off our debt. He ended by saying the most important thing we can do when trying to decide whether to live radically or responsibly is to examine our heart. If we are living responsibly out of selfishness or fear then we should reexamine our priorities. But if we are living responsibly because we want to follow all that the Lord has said then we are in good shape.
Pay off your debt so you can finally live free of the burden of being slave to your money. Why do you think the Lord's prayer includes a line about forgiving our debts? Because it's a big deal to be debt free. I can't wait for the day that we can say, "WE ARE DEBT FREE!"
Just thinking about this more after I spoke to you today about it - paying off debt IS living radically. This about Dave's phrase "Live like no one else, so later you can LIVE like no one else." To be radical is to be different than the secular norm for Christ. You're not paying off your debt for only your own personal satisfaction, but because it's biblical - it's God's intention the stewards of his (financial) blessings. So, while you might not be selling all your baby shoes and hopping on the next plane to Africa to help the needy over there, you ARE living radically. At least I believe so. :) Technically, everything about living the Christian lifestyle should be radically different than the world, if we're doing it right.
ReplyDeleteTell that baby in there to calm down! Haha
Also, December 4th works for me if it works for you! If you're up for both shoots that day, I'm cool with that, or we can just do yours. Then, once baby C is here, we'll do another newborn shoot, right? As far as Daniel and I's engagement ones, there isn't a rush still, but we are thinking of moving up the wedding to this upcoming summer, so sometime before that would be nice! Haha. The wedding date is still so mushy - it's a long story - I'll explain later. :) I was hoping to do them before it got too cold, but I look a lot better in winter clothes, so it's whateverrr. :) Let me know if this works for youuu!
<3 Katie!