Freedom From Debt

"The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender (Proverbs 22:7 NIV)."

The biggest danger with debt is that it robs the future to satisfy the present. This can create for the unwary a lot of unforeseen and unexpected problems. To begin with, excessive debt or the wrong kind of debt results in a certain loss of freedom. Depending on the amount of your debt, you lose some of your flexibility to choose for yourself. Your creditors have the most important say in your financial decisions; after all, it is their money. When you borrow money from a bank, you don't get just the money; you get them In order to protect their assets, they continually check your records, your accounts payable and receivable.

Debt strips you of any financial privacy. Borrow money for a car and you will find the banker riding in the back seat. Default on your payments and he moves up to the front seat. Debt robs the future to satisfy the present. Debt steals your freedom; Debt strips you of any financial privacy. Entering into debt brings you into a relationship of servitude to your creditors. This servitude severely restricts your freedom to live life on your own terms: to take off work wherever you need to, to travel on a mission trip, to spend the kind of time with your family that you desire, to fulfill your personal dreams and goals. You are so busy slaving away to pay off your debt that your own dreams have to be put on hold indefinitely. Debt is a trap that is very easy to fall into but very hard to get out of. Whenever you take on debt, you mortgage your future. You commit your future earnings to pay for present desires and pants, often leaving little or nothing for future needs.

With debt, a decision made in a moment can lead to many long years of  repayment-and regret. And in the end what do you have to show for it? Years off of your productive life and a worn-out or obsolete item worth only a fraction of what you paid. Add to this the fact that today credit is more readily available than ever before and debt becomes an even greater danger. Many people who normally would not qualify for credit can now get cars, furniture, electronic equipment, credit cards, houses, boats, and more. There is a reason they would not normally qualify: insufficient income or insufficient assets that render them a high-default risk. Yet lower standards in recent years have allowed many noncredit-worthy people to get credit. These lower standards-and the resultant significant rise in payment defaults-are a major factor in the current economic difficulties we are experiencing in our nation today. Whenever you take on debt, a decision made in a moment can lead to many long years of repayment-and regret.

A couple of generations ago, people saved their money for what they wanted, and then purchased it from their savings. The current trend is to buy with credit rather than savings, because credit is fast, easy, and painless (at least until the payments mount up). There is no waiting. Another reason why fewer people purchase using their savings is because fewer people have savings.  Many people are so deeply in debt that they cannot afford to build up any savings; they simply don't have the money. And the easy availability of credit has created the false assumption in the minds of many that savings are no longer necessary. Why save when you can borrow? This is a mind-set that can (and does) lead to financial disaster.

Whenever you take on debt, you assign your future to someone you don't even know-the bank or credit company-who has their future in mind, not yours. Not only do you sign over future earnings, but you also turn over control because you cannot choose where your money goes. No matter how much your own financial picture changes for better or for worse, you remain legally bound to meet your financial obligations to your creditors. Depending on your circumstances, these restrictions quite often negatively affect the amount of money you can give to other causes, including the work of God's Kingdom.  In addition to your money, you also turn over your time because it takes time to make money. Any way you look at it, debt is a trap that can keep you in bondage for years.

*This was taken from Eugene's book Coin's Left Over, available for purchase at Sent Forth Ministries Website.