*book filled with chapters to read, check;
*workbook filled with ominous blanks to fill, check;
*credit card cover designed to trigger trembling and sweating; check;
*an attractively packaged envelope system, check;
*order forms to replenish the aforementioned items, check.
Uh-oh. Our box was missing a key content: Where was the blank check to cover our debt?
I woke up and remembered this was a different kind of salvation: this salvation would not happen by grace alone but would require hard work, discipline and dedication. Evidently good 'ole Dave believes if we made the mess, we need to fix it. What would Jesus do, Dave?
God honored both Dave and me by creating us in His image ("male and female, He created them") which in part means we each have a free will to learn to control. While I'm still opening my heart's door to temptation and watching my untamed will run like the wind, Dave has risen to his God-given mission to become manager and domesticator.
"Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,
and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth,
and over all the creatures that move along the ground.'
So God created man in His own image,
in the image of God He created him;
male and female He created them."
Genesis 1:26-27
God's gift of "freedom" becomes a prison when we don't learn to lasso it in and lay it kicking and bucking on God's altar. After being dragged through the muck by the twin mavericks of wanting and spending, Dave found the saddle and began breaking in his own wayward thought patterns and will.
"We demolish arguments and every pretension
that sets itself up against the knowledge of God,
and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
2 Corinthians 10:5
Now that Dave is happy and content in his debt-free existence, why should he worry about me and my problems? Who am I to ask someone to show me the ropes on covering my debt? Shouldn't I have to suffer for the trouble I've caused?
"What is man that You are mindful of him,
the son of man that You care for him?
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor."
Psalm 8:5
As part of the body of Christ, Ramsey hurts for people still trying to crawl out of the pit of debt and he dirties his hands to help the rest of us. What a picture of Christ, seated in heaven without a problem to His Holy Name yet reaching down to scar His own Hands to pay our debt. Ramsey's experiences prove that "in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). Dave's found God's path to "spur" us "on toward love and good deeds" (Hebrews 10:24). Now it's our turn to get in the saddle and rein in our own hearts and minds in the areas that keep getting away from us.
Praise You God for having mercy on us, saving us completely, and covering our debt fully. While I can't do this for anyone else, I can show them the way by living up to Your calling for me and by reaching out to help when You show me the way. Use every experience in our lives for Your Glory and to nourish the Body of Christ. Father, Your Love and Grace amaze me and You just keep amazing me. Thank You for believers like Dave Ramsey who don't find their way and forget the rest of us. Thank You for using him and for always being mindful of us. Teach us to take captive every thought and way that bucks Your reign in our lives today. We lay it all on the altar today, Lord, all on the altar.
In the name of Jesus Who laid Himself on the altar of sacrifice to pay our debt in full!
Photo of wild horses from www.photobucket.com
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