Money is a topic that God talks about extensively throughout the Scriptures. The purpose of this post is not to be specific about all the areas of money that the Scripture speaks about, but to make one clear point. The point is stated in the title of this post. Debt is a judgement, certainly not a blessing. It is also not an area where God remains silent. But Christians seem to completely ignore what God has to say about it.
Borrowing money is the standard practice of most Christians in today’s world. Maybe this was not the case as much throughout the history of Christianity, but that was probably because many Christians were not in a society or culture where borrowing money was so convenient. Today as anyone who has any financial awareness knows, borrowing money is as easy as it gets.
I chose not to borrow money the first year of our marriage in 1982. This one decision had a huge impact upon our life from that point on. Some of the differences in our life compared to other families around our age in life were the following:
- We generally had a “lower” standard of living
- We drove older vehicles than others
- We rented a place to live versus getting a mortgage to buy a house
- We had to move more often because of living in rental properties
- We could not purchase or obtain items as quickly because we had to plan for our purchases
- We were looked upon by others in the church as being different or even eccentric because of our choice to not borrow or use credit cards.
I could go on, but the point is fairly obvious. A person or family that chooses to not borrow in today’s world is going to be looked upon as being very different than everyone else in society.
Borrowing money is the root of a much bigger problem – the love of money. Yes, a person that borrows money is sending a very clear message – “I love money more than I love being in a right relationship with God in regards to my money.” For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 1 Timothy 6:10. And because of this love of money that manifests itself in the choice to borrow money, we encounter many other problems in our life, even straying from the faith, and eventually experiencing many sorrows that come from the love of money.
Over time as we pursue this topic on this site, we will discuss many aspects of money and what happens when we choose to either follow God or disobey God in this area. My hope is that those who choose to follow God will be encouraged to continue to do the right thing; and those who choose to believe that borrowing money is an appropriate choice for a Christian will be challenged to take a new look at what the Scriptures say.
Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. Romans 13:8
