One of the most common approaches to life, happiness, satisfaction in modern America is materialism. Materialism is the idea that value comes from material things, from stuff: cars, houses, clothes, money, electronic devices, and all of our possessions. Materialism says that the key to happiness is the accumulation of possessions. Much of the marketing industry in America is founded on this exact philosophy. If you want to be happy or fulfilled or popular or attractive, you need to buy their product.
In many ways, materialism is the god of modern America. And if materialism is the god of modern America, the worship that god demands is debt. If you must have more, newer, better stuff to be happy or fulfilled, and you don't have the money to buy it, what do you do? You charge it! Debt has become an accepted way of life for many people today. U.S. consumer debt now stands at over $15 trillion! Compare that to our total personal income of $19.6 trillion, and you understand that most of us are in debt.
So, what does the Bible say about debt and what should our views as followers of Jesus be when it comes to debt? There are really three basic principles the Bible has in relation to debt:
1. Be cautious about getting into debt. While the Bible does not condemn or forbid going into debt, neither does it encourage you to go into debt. It gives cautions about the dangers of debt. Prov. 22:7 says, "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender." The truth is, if you are going into debt, you have to know that you are placing yourself under the control of the lender. You are giving someone else a measure of control over your life, and that can be a dangerous thing.
Debt produces all sorts of problems in life. You begin to be controlled by your debt. You have to have a certain job, making a certain salary to pay your debt. You have to work extra hours and extra shifts just to keep up with your debt. You worry and get stress and ulcers trying to figure out how to pay your debt. It produces strain and arguments in your marriage. You have debt, but you also have to maintain a certain lifestyle, do certain things, provide things for your kids, and so your debt continues to increase. It becomes this monster that controls your life.
Now, one thing in particular that the Bible warns against is borrowing against surety. Look at what Prov. 22:26-27 says, "26 Don’t be one of those who enter agreements, who put up security for loans.27 If you have nothing with which to pay, even your bed will be taken from under you." Borrowing against surety means I am borrowing with nothing to secure my loan. I am borrowing simply on my promise to repay. It’s called credit cards. Credit cards represent a great danger, because if you don’t pay, they are getting their payment somehow. Be cautious about getting into debt.
2. Pay all your debts. You pay what you owe. Rom. 13:7-8 says, "7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law." The only continuous debt that we need to carry in our lives is the debt of loving other people. Everything else we need to pay off in a timely manner.
We need to pay our debts. So, how do you do that? Well, this is pretty complicated. You have to spend less than you earn. If you are going to pay off your debt and not accrue more debt, you have to spend less than you earn. It’s a fiscal diet. That means you have to think through your spending. It’s called a budget. Thinking through a budget is not hard to do. You simply come up with all the sources of income you have. You write those down. Then you think through all your expenditures. You start with the most important ones. You take those out first. Then come all the other expenditures. And you don’t spend more than you earn. Budgets aren’t always fun. They aren’t always easy, but they are necessary if we are to get debt under control.
Another thing you can do to eliminate debt is pray about your purchases. Anytime you are going to buy something that costs more than say $100, pray about it before you buy it. Give God a chance to either supply that need or tell you no before you go buy it. Give yourself at least a day to pray about it before you go buy it.
3. Lend freely to others. While the Bible cautions against borrowing, it actually encourages lending. Look at Dt. 15:7-8, "7 If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother8 but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be." Biblically, lending is not a business decision. It’s a compassion decision. It’s about caring about someone else and providing a means to help people who have less than us.
A lot of people are hesitant about lending to friends, family, church friends. Why? Two reasons. First, because we approach it as a business decision instead of a compassion decision. We get upset because the money is not paid in a timely manner. We hold it over them about how they use the money we lend them. We worry about if we will ever see it again. Those are business decisions. But if we give based on generosity, if we give because we care more for the other person than we do for our money, then those concerns don’t really matter. I encourage you to help other people with the things that God has given you. But here’s the way you should do it. View it as a gift. That way, if you don’t ever get it back, then that’s okay, and if you do get even some of it back, then it’s a bonus. Also, realize that it may be someone else who pays you back. It may be at some other point sometime down the road that God uses someone else in your life to supply a need, and you get repaid. God is going to take care of you particularly as you share his heart of compassion for others. Then, let love and wisdom guide you. Sometimes, lending to someone else is not the most loving, most compassionate, or wisest thing to do. Because, the reason they are in need is because of some bad decisions in their lives. Maybe they are in financial need because they refuse to work. Maybe giving them money will only further some of their destructive choices. So, you have to let love and wisdom guide you.
Then, the second reason we are hesitant to lend to other is because we don’t really have the money to lend because we are stretched to the limit. Again, we have to get our debt under control so we are free to use our money the way God wants us to use it to impact other people.
Ultimately, we need to learn to rely on God more than on our credit cards. We need to trust in the fact that God loves us and cares for us and is going to take care of us. That is the real danger of debt, that we can come to depend on our credit more than our God. God has already taken care of the biggest debt in our lives when Jesus paid the price for our sins on the cross. Col. 2:13-14: "13 And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses.14 He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross." If we can trust God when it comes to meeting the greatest need in our lives, paying the greatest debt we ever owed, then we can trust him with the rest of our life as well.
