Owe Nothing!

Just before the recent financial bailout, aimed towards putting a stop to the problems in the banking and housing industry, the CEO of my company lectured us about the importance and necessity of the bailout. I won't bore you with the details. Besides, I couldn't repeat everything that was said in the first place. Working in the financial industry, lending specifically, affords me the opportunity to work with many individuals and families trying to finance their dreams. The one thing that I have noticed in all this time is that there is little, if any, financial savvy and responsibilty placed on those seeking the loans. In this day and age it is popular to point fingers at the wealthy CEOs and the industries they preside over. We are all familiar with terms like "Big Oil" and "Big Pharma" that are used to advance the idea that all responsibility lies at the feet of the leaders of all these companies. Granted, many of them are not innocent of their share of the blame. However, they can't put a single person in debt unless that person, or persons, agree to be put themselves in debt. As one pundit, Pat Buchanan, put it:

"Americans save nothing. We spend more than we earn. Thus the levels of consumer debt, credit card debt, auto debt and mortgage debt."

I see this statement come to life nearly every day. There seems to be no sense of delayed gratification amongst most consumers. I admit, so as not to come across as judging anybody, that I struggle with this myself. The sense of entitlement is astonishing. It is as if everybody feels they are owed the happiness spoken of in the Declaration of Independence rather than just having the opportunity to pursue it. Terms like the "Great Depression" are thrown around to stir up the fear and uneasiness already prevalent in the country. Although, unemployment rates, for example, are no where near the 25% levels reached at that time. Sadly, this idea of delayed gratification has even missed the Body of Christ.

"...and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." 1 Timothy 6:5-10

Unfortunately, there are many believers who feel that they are entitled to all the world offers. You don't need to look any further than Christian television to find a teacher telling his flock that God desires them to be rich, wealthy and so forth. And they twist the scriptures to do so. This leads to people expecting God to "bless" them with worldly gain regardless of the problems they have created for themselves. For instance, I know of a family whose credit was terrible, but that my company agreed to help with a loan. After informing them of our decision to help they started balking at the conditions we had set for the loan. The reason they didn't agree to the conditions is because they lied to us about certain aspects of their financial condition. Yet, all I kept hearing from this, supposed Christian, family is "God Bless you" as they lied to us. I know this isn't indicative of everybody, but I believe it to be a good example of people who will not admit to their own mistakes and then expect to be helped out of their mess by God and others. It is difficult to be content in this world. Especially, when you grow up in a society that offers so much that appeals to the flesh. However, I believe that the more you have, the more you want, and the harder it is to be content with what you do have. It is next to impossible to save yourself rich, and I don't expect people to be able to avoid all debt, entirely. Yet, with a handle on your finances, I believe your relationship with the world and the Lord will get better. You will have less stress on your life and more ability to do the things for the Lord we all say we wish we could do.

"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself."Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." Romans 13: 8-10

Think about it. What is one of the major causes of sin? Is it not because people owe something they cannot afford to pay and will do just about anything to get out from under that debt? And because of that they end up doing things they normally wouldn't do in order to pay that debt. Scripture says the "root" of all kinds of evil is the love of money. We all know that people steal money for many reasons. One of which is to pay debts. The same goes for committing murder. And coveting, like desiring things we can't have or afford, leads to going into debt, amongst other things. It makes it difficult to love your neighbor when you are focused on and consumed with your debt. It is more difficult to give to your churches, charities and even save for a rainy day, when you are in debt. If you compare the debt that all mankind owed to God because of our sin, you can get a greater perspective. We not only were in debt to God, there was no way on earth that we could pay that debt. When you owe a debt to a lender you cannot pay, you can end up losing your home, your automobile and, definitely, your good name. If not for Jesus Christ paying our debt to God, we would have lost a lot more than a piece of collateral or our good name. Our destination would be Hell. The next time you consider going into debt for something, ask yourself if it is worth the grief, anxiety and potential loss that would happen if you can't pay it back. Or what you might have to do in order to pay it back. Jesus paid our debt to set us free. We can experience a form of that freedom when we are free of our own debts.