re you living on the financial edge? Or have you gone over the edge, finding yourself unable to catch yourself? Why? A catastrophic illness, an injury, or any of a number of unfortunate situations may have suddenly occurred, throwing the budget into a shaky teeter or a negative balance that could last for years.
Catastrophe, however, is not the normal debt generator. Most debtors struggle with the sort of debt that creeps rather than pounces. That is the kind most easily defended against, especially by the Christian, because that kind is normally based on sin, against which the Christian has the perfect defence -- if he will only use it. We continually face pressures from society to satisfy the slightest appetite; we have a desire for as many comforts and pleasures as possible. Society places it all within easy reach. "No down payment, easy payments, no interest charged until next year, reach out and touch someone, you deserve it!, and uh huh!" -- you have heard all this hyperbole.
Sometimes it is the small indulgences that maintain poverty. A pop machine is usually near, and it costs only 50 cents to reach out and take. When this is done twice a day, the cost is $365 per year. Significant in itself, this cost is normally compounded because one who is that undisciplined commits the sin of heedless self-interest in many other ways, all of which contribute to the debt-load. The debtor may be a "spender" personality type, one who is not disciplined financially. This defect does not pass scriptural fruit inspection, for the fruit of the Spirit includes egkrateia, or self-control (Gal. 5:23).
This issue of Credenda discusses the problems of sophisticated worldliness. Finances are certainly not independent of that subject. Do you justify gratification of your appetites -- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16) -- by proclaiming freedom in Christ? Do you enjoy, and pay for, things that are not basic necessities because they are "God's good gifts," though you cannot pay your creditors, or supply your own or your family's real needs? You may not be a "spender," but is your desire for sophistication, or the admiration of others, a temptation which you have not resisted?
Most people must borrow money if they are to buy a house. That should only be done if you can pay off the mortgage within a very few years. If you pay a 10% mortgage over 15 years, you pay the lender nearly double the loan amount. A house mortgage should never be taken if it pushes the family finances to the edge, where normal financial setbacks (such as a hospitalization, or loss of employment for a month or so) cannot be managed without going into default.
So what is to be done? Face God openly, repent, seek to be obedient, and accept His provision: No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able
to bear it (1 Cor. 10:13). Analyze your spending. Are you spending to gratify desires? Do you still need to learn the critical lesson of self-control? If succumbing to the desire to find immediate gratification in nonessential things is your problem, you are certain to indulge yourself elsewhere as well.
If you are in debt, you may not need more money. You may need self-control. You may need to forego a better car, new furniture, a daily Pepsi, or other nonessentials. Should you carry a brown bag instead of lunching at McDonald's? Perhaps you should forego coffee; it is not a basic necessity. Obviously, the problem is not these things in themselves; the problem is that you are doing them with someone else's money. How about bypassing movies -- including video rentals -- until you are out of debt?
Perhaps we have not yet named your problem. What is your personal temptation? Very few are not related in some way to your finances. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (1 Tim. 6:10).
You can exercise restraint happily and easily, because among God's good gifts are alternatives to use when you are in the restraint mode. How about learning to repair your old things yourself? Instead of reading a book with a carbonated or alcoholic drink in hand, how about just reading the book? Does reading this book really require the aid of a cigar? If you need a drink as you read, a glass of water qualifies as one of God's good gifts: You also gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold Your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst (Neh. 9:20).
Think of other low-cost or no-cost alternatives, using God's good gifts, for those occasions when you want to be a gracious host. Will a warm-hearted, serene welcome do?
For responsible debt management you must maintain accountability to someone. First, you must acknowledge your problem to God regularly. Second, husband and wife must be accountable to one another (and the husband's headship is not to provide him with an excuse to keep her from helping him in this). Third, if you are handling the matter badly and can't get your debt under control, go to a Christian brother who can evaluate your situation objectively. Accountability requires frequent, open, honest, and complete reports.
When you are in trouble with debt, you cannot enjoy all the rights of inheritance promised to God's children. You have no moral right to exercise benevolence with your time, material goods, or money. If you are living on borrowed money that you cannot pay back, you do not even have the privilege of tithing until you are demonstrably on the way out of debt to the satisfaction of your creditors, with an increase that is truly yours from which to tithe. Borrowed money, like a borrowed car, does not belong to the borrower.
Isn't it a terrible thing to be enslaved by debt? Isn't avoiding that situation worth a great deal of frugality? And if you are so enslaved, just think of the money you can save instead of paying interest for the "privilege" of being enslaved. Why not start on your way out of debt now? Remember the first step?
God did not offer freedom only to see His children under bondage.
Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law (Rom. 13:8).
