Spiritual Bankruptcy
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
It's funny, but financial bankruptcy doesn't freak me out. I blogged the other day on the fact that Rich and I are considering bankruptcy as an option, and the idea--to me and Rich, both--feels hopeful. Partly because we've done some research that's been very helpful, but also because the reality is that we have been "bankrupt" for the past six years. We've never really had much of anything financially. To us, it's nothing new. We're just at a point where we might "declare" it, legally. And declaring it, or agreeing with reality, is actually very freeing.
What joy there is in knowing we can be forgiven a debt we cannot pay!
Of course there are consequences. Like having to rebuild our credit. Start over. But simply beginning again opens up a whole new landscape of possibilities. It's hard to see "starting over" as a negative consequence when the alternative is dealing with the ramification of lying to ourselves in an insistent, prideful, we-can-do-this-by-ourselves way that leaves us in binding, life-suffocating quicksand. In the long run, it seems that stubborn self-deception will only hurt our children, too.
Thinking about all of this, and how the term bankruptcy seems so "loaded" for so many. . . I can't help but flip it around and see the spiritual parallels. In the same way that we might dread financial "emptiness", are we as worried, fearful, cautious, steeled-against spiritual bankruptcy? Haven't we all experienced bankruptcy in one way or another (in health, in heart, in spirit) until our eyes open (or re-open) to the truth that's been there all along: we are heirs of Jesus Christ!? We are forgiven all our burdensome debts-- life-robbing, habits, attitudes, grudges, patterns, etc. . .
Why not agree with God about our state of poverty apart from him, and relish in this inheritance that cannot be bought?
Agreeing with reality, or alligning ourselves with truth, allows us to live within new options we couldn't see before--new ways of growing, loving, healing, reaching out. We can start over. Every day. Be "born again." We can experience what it means to be a "new creation" over and over and over--each moment, day, week, month, year. . . .
Curious about God's perspective on bankruptcy? Here's a passage I've read and re-read a lot over the past few years. Read it and let the words uplift your soul!
Isaiah 55: 1-3; 8-13
"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. . . .
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth; it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord's renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed."
God's purposeful, intentional harvest in our lives will not return to him empty. In other words, to Him there's no such thing as bankruptcy. Yes, my friends, our Creator is uprooting thornbushes and planting pine trees. He is changing the landscape of our lives, even when from our limited perspective the soil may seem barren, unfruitful, unyielding!
What joy there is in knowing we can be forgiven a debt we cannot pay!
Of course there are consequences. Like having to rebuild our credit. Start over. But simply beginning again opens up a whole new landscape of possibilities. It's hard to see "starting over" as a negative consequence when the alternative is dealing with the ramification of lying to ourselves in an insistent, prideful, we-can-do-this-by-ourselves way that leaves us in binding, life-suffocating quicksand. In the long run, it seems that stubborn self-deception will only hurt our children, too.
Thinking about all of this, and how the term bankruptcy seems so "loaded" for so many. . . I can't help but flip it around and see the spiritual parallels. In the same way that we might dread financial "emptiness", are we as worried, fearful, cautious, steeled-against spiritual bankruptcy? Haven't we all experienced bankruptcy in one way or another (in health, in heart, in spirit) until our eyes open (or re-open) to the truth that's been there all along: we are heirs of Jesus Christ!? We are forgiven all our burdensome debts-- life-robbing, habits, attitudes, grudges, patterns, etc. . .
Why not agree with God about our state of poverty apart from him, and relish in this inheritance that cannot be bought?
Agreeing with reality, or alligning ourselves with truth, allows us to live within new options we couldn't see before--new ways of growing, loving, healing, reaching out. We can start over. Every day. Be "born again." We can experience what it means to be a "new creation" over and over and over--each moment, day, week, month, year. . . .
Curious about God's perspective on bankruptcy? Here's a passage I've read and re-read a lot over the past few years. Read it and let the words uplift your soul!
Isaiah 55: 1-3; 8-13
"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. . . .
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth; it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord's renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed."
God's purposeful, intentional harvest in our lives will not return to him empty. In other words, to Him there's no such thing as bankruptcy. Yes, my friends, our Creator is uprooting thornbushes and planting pine trees. He is changing the landscape of our lives, even when from our limited perspective the soil may seem barren, unfruitful, unyielding!
