Ecclesiastes 4:1-3

"Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed-- and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors--and they have no comforter."

Psalm 35:10

"My whole being will exclaim, Who is like you, O Lord? you rescue the poor from those too strong for them, the poor and needy from those who rob them."

Psalm 113:7

"He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap"

Isaiah 14:30

"The poorest of the poor will find pasture, and the needy will lie down in safety"

Luke 6:20-22

"Blessed are the poor, for yours in the kingdom of God. Blessed are you wh hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man."

Money

So I going to Europe this spring to study abroad and it is going to cost me a little above and beyond what it typically costs me to be at Dordt for a semester Also there have been some seminaries that have come to Dordt to promote coming to there school after college. I have put some thought into going to seminary and the more I think about it the more appealing it sounds, but that is for another post. I have a fair amount of debt and if I were to go on to seminary that would add to that already large amount of debt. My question in relationship to money is this:

At what point do we decide that money has become our idol and if we have reached that point what measures do we take to make sure that it is not ruling over us?

I have talked to some of my friends here at Dordt about money and many of have the same desire to not have to deal with money at all. How cool would it be to live independant of money? Very difficult, but liberating I would think. Is having debt a sign that moeny is starting to take control? In a couple of my classes we are currently discussing poverty and we question if what we consider impoverish to be acurate. Something else to consider is that there are more ways of being impoverish than just mesured by food or by what you own. Many, many people are spiritually impoverish. Am I poor because I have thousands of dollars in debt, but I potentially have the ability to pay that off? Or maybe I am still weathly for the same reason. I am relatively independant, and can provide for myself. I am wealthy.

I hate money! I %100 mean it when I say hate. It is our golden calf, our baal. And yet we have reached a point of no return. We are dependant on money. Could we be so bold as to willingly give up everything for the purpose of not being submissive to money. The Bible tells us that it is the love of money that is evil. Where do we draw the line between loving money and not? Is the fact that my family lives in a house with 2500 square ft a sign of loving money? We could live in a apartment and share rooms and we could manage just fine. Would that be more stewardly of our money?

In light of my wanting to attend seminary is it wrong for me to approach it with the attitude of not worrying that it will further bury me in debt because I trust that God will provide? Or is this foolish and irresponsible?

Is our dependency on money a sign of lacking faith in God to provide? Should we be so bold as to not worry about our money in faith that God will take care of us? Where do we draw that line between faithfully trusting and complete foolish irresponsibility?

I do not know. I would covet some thoughts and opinions to these questions.