Financial freedom is an elusive proposition.

We frequently encounter the concept in commercials if we watch television, but we rarely encounter a person who is truly financially free. Even when people have tremendous wealth, they can still be bound, lock, stock, and barrel, to their money. I believe that financial conten tment is the true prize, and it is a prize that can be won. There are five compo nents to financial contentment. First of all, we need to have an eternal perspective. When we know that God is t he owner and we are the stewards, we can put todays decisions into the right pers pective. Secondly, we need to make faith-based financial decisions. If we can say, with c onfidence, I believe God would have me to regarding our financial decisions, then w e can be financially content because we are following Gods guidance. Thirdly, if we are married, we need to have unity with our spouse in our financi al decisions. Our decisions are not mine or yours, rather; they are ours before the Lo rd. Taking the time to set financial goals and agree upon financial priorities a nd next steps with our spouse provides a foundation for unified decisions. Fourthly, we need to seek biblically wise counsel. The book of James tells us th at Gods wisdom yields peace and other fruit related to financial contentment. Whe n we seek wise counsel, we are participating in a process that will yield conten tment. Finally, we need to operate consistently out of a few transcendent financial pla nning principles. There are six key biblical principles: spend less than you mak e, avoid debt, build margin, give generously, set long-term goals, and understan d that God owns it all and invest accordingly. Rather than only pursuing financial freedom for the future, what if we decided t o also pursue financial contentment in the moment? I believe that we would find it to be an attainable goal and a rewarding process.