When your life suddenly takes an unexpected turn, either caused by your sin or someone else sin, everything becomes chaotic. So it was for my wife and me when we one day realized we had overspent our money and now we were in dire straits unable to pay it back. Understanding your sin and the consequences of it will, first of all, make you repent and ask for forgiveness, something we did. We turned our lives around and went from overspending our money to learning how to live on a minimal amount each month. Looking back, we can honestly say we are more satisfied today living on minimum budget each month then what we used to be when we overspent. Has it been a smooth transition? The answer would be no, it has not been easy, but it has been worth it.
What do I mean when I say it has been worth it? Because in the process, we have learned how to find our peace and satisfaction in what we spent our money on to see our peace and contentment in Yehovah. Back then, when all of this started, we would probably not have agreed with ourselves today. We were your typical mainstream Christians, saved by the Blood of Jesus, living the consumer doctrines of Christianity. What are the “consumer doctrines”? The belief that God loves us, He is never angry at us, and He wants to bless us. So even though what we did was caused by many factors in our lives, it was driven by our faith in the consumer doctrine.
What has been the biggest challenge through this transition? Our biggest challenge has probably been our thought life. When the consequences of your sin have caused you to lose control over your life, and it gets so bad that you dont dare open the mail anymore, then you know you have a problem with fear. How did we handle anxiety?
As Christians, it was logical for us to seek answers to our situation and how to become free of debt, in Christianity. 1. John 1:9 was, and still is, one of our favorite Bible verses. It reminded us that even though we are still struggling with the consequences of our sins, we can know for sure we are forgiven because we have confessed and repented. But the question then gave itself, how were we to go from being forgiven to being saved from and set free from the consequences of our sins?
Over the years, we tried everything there is to try in mainstream Christianity. We tried spiritual warfare, prophecies, sowing and reaping, tithing, passive faith, and active faith. Everything we did, everything we tried did not solve our situation. We were still knee-deep in debt, always battling fear and anxiety and not knowing how to handle unexpected circumstances. In mainstream Christianity, we were promised a quick fix and victory over fear in the name of Jesus. We did everything they told us to do, but nothing changed.
I can remember instances when we did not know for sure if we could make rent that month and pay the electricity bill. This happened time and time again because our paychecks got messed up at the payroll office. Mainstream Christianity promised us peace amid the storm if we had a passive faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. They promised us if we tithed if we confessed the word and “stood on the promises of God,” we would have the peace that surpasses all understanding. Even though we did everything right, we had no peace, and we seemed unable to shake this fear and anxiety that was attacking us monthly.
Our circumstances did not change when we started obeying the Torah, but how we handled them changed.
Let me first say we believe there is no doubt about the divinity of Yeshua (Jesus). He is God, according to the Bible in John 1, 8:58. He has to be God to be able to free us from the curse of the law, and He has to be human to atone for our sins. So we believe, beyond a shadow of a doubt, Yeshua is fully man and fully God. At the same time, He says in the Gospel of John His Father is greater than He. He also says He came to open the way back to the Father. So it became undeniable for my wife and me we are to come by the cross, but we are not to stay at the cross. We are to continue on to the Father, and His name is Yehovah. It also says in 1.John 2:6 if we claim to be one with Yeshua, we have to live as He lived. He lived His life in obedience to Yehovah, and Yehovah was His object of faith.
So my wife and I decided to trust the Bible and not mainstream Christianity. We started celebrating Shabbat, praying to Yehovah, believing Yeshua His Son died for our sins. The more our relationship to Yehovah grew, the easier it got to handle the consequences of our debt. And the easier it got to handle the effects of our sins, the easier it got to believe Yehovah has a way for us to become debt-free.
Just the other day, we had set up a budget for the next three months. At the same time, our cat got sick, and we had to take it to the veterinary. We have it ensured, but the insurances would not cover it. Suddenly we needed new snow tires for our car, we had driven on the same all-season tires for the last three years, and we did not trust they would last one more winter. We had made a careful budget, making sure we could pay our monthly installments on our chapter 13, pay the vet, and buy the tires. Then suddenly, and without warning, the payroll office calls and tells us they have made a mistake again. The consequences of their error destroyed our bugdet, and suddenly we could not pay the monthly installments on our chapter 13.
Before, when we were mainstream Christians, something like this would have filled us with fear and almost paralyzed us. This time, we actually had the peace that surpasses all understanding. Our situation did not change, but we had peace during the storm, and it was and still is a supernatural peace. Because of the peace, we heard Yehovah telling us to do something we dont yet understand. He told us to take a cash advance on next month’s paycheck and use that amount to pay the installments on our chapter 13. So because of that, we could pay the vet, pay chapter 13, buy the tires, and feed ourselves.
From our perspective, things are not looking all that good for next month’s paycheck. Because we had to take most of it as a cash advance, this month’s paycheck will be tiny and not nearly enough to make payments on our chapter 13. When we were mainstream Christians, we would now be in full panic mode, but because we are Torah observant, believing in Yeshua, we have peace. We have no idea what is going to happen or how we will make rent next month, and pay our chapter 13. But we have peace amid the storm, and the peace gives us the assurance Yehovah knows what He is doing, and when the time is right, He will let us know what to do.
Are we not sometimes tempted to fear and worry? Yes, but when we do feel that temptation, we choose to focus our minds on Yehovah, and we say to ourselves Yehovah will pay this bill for us, and He will make sure we are soon out of this debt one way or the other.
How can we be so sure? Because He had done it before, even before we knew Him as Yehovah. He has cared for us through the desert so far, and because He promises that all those who know Him as Yehovah and obey His Torah will be cared for and their needs will be met. (Matt 6:25-34, Deut 28:1-13).
We know it is not His will for us to have this debt, and we know He Yehovah is our Savior and our shield, our tower and strength the only one who frees the Torah observant from all their afflictions. He has done it for others in the past; He did it for our forefathers in the desert, and He will do it for us, and He will do it for you.
He is calling you to come into a relationship with Him, through faith in Yeshua with obedience to His Torah. Will you take shelter in HIs name Yehovah and allow Him to fight for you, the way He is fighting for us?
He has not disappointed us, and He will not disappoint you.