Part Four (Final): Debt is still not a sin!!

I think it is time that we wrap this part of our debt discussion. (It does get a bit depressing.) It is pretty obvious with just a little digging why God discourages debt. Here is a quick recap of some of the reasons that debt is discouraged in the Bible.

1. Debt presumes upon the future (James 4:14)
2. Debt can bypass God's direction in our lives (Jeremiah 29:11)
3. Debt causes us to miss opportunities to allow God to demonstrate His faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22-23)
4. Debt makes us miss opportunities for our faith to grow (2 Thessalonians 1:3)
5. Debt leads us into bondage (Proverbs 22:7)
6. Debt opens the door for us to become wicked (Psalms 37:21)
7. Debt sometimes is too risky and just not wise (Proverbs 17:18)

We could go on from here and the list could get pretty long. But the truth is that although not forbidden by God, we must be very careful with debt. It can very easily hinder our relationship with God and quickly lead us into sin.

Besides borrowing in general being discouraged, the Bible talks specifically about certain types of debt. Now that we have established that God generally discourages debt and some of the reasons why He discourages it, the next time we get together we can look at some specific types of debt. We might be surprised at what the Bible says about certain types of debt and that God has some stronger words than just general caution.

I would welcome any personal experiences how debt has affected your personal walk with the Lord.

Part Three: Debt is still not a sin!!

Thanks Anthony, Ernie and Keith for your comments.

Anthony, you mentioned that "...we have desires that we must limit, but rarely do and this is a cause of debt." We call this a lack of discipline or self control. It is interesting that you mention this as I have shared with many many people that I feel the key to getting our finances in order is discipline or self control. I further explain this by saying that we need discipline to recognize we may not be able afford this house, this car, this vacation or perhaps just going out to get pizza tonight. Once we recognize these limits, we need the discipline to act (or not act) upon them.

But what makes your point really interesting to me is what I heard a Christian preacher say about 5 years ago. (Although I am not 100% sure, I think it was John MacArthur.) He said that the key to living for Christ boils down to discipline. He went on to say that living for Christ involves the discipline to do what the Bible says and not what the world, flesh and Satan pulls us towards.

This speaker went on to say that this discipline is not something we get from the way we were raised or jogging or our work culture. It is something that comes from the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22, 23). And the same discipline that we need to handle our finances is the discipline we need to live for Christ in our daily walk.

It also helped me understand a little more what Jesus meant when he said in Luke 12:34 "Where your treasure is where your heart will be also". How we handle our money is not just a financial issue for a Christian; it is a spiritual issue. I believe that a good way for us to get a spiritual reading on our walk with the Lord is by looking at how we handle our money.

And Ernie, I think you are right on when you said that debt can cause us to miss an opportunity to see God demonstrate His faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23 says "The Lord's loving kindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassion never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness."

Looking back over our lives, how many times do we miss opportunities of seeing God prove Himself faithful? We miss these opportunities because we rush out and borrow money or buy things on credit as opposed to waiting on God to supply. Yes, God is faithful and debt can cause us to miss those opportunities of seeing Him prove His faithfulness.

Thanks Ernie for making this point. It is a great one. Missing an opportunity of seeing God's faithfulness would definitely be a reason that He would discourage debt. I look forward to continuing this discussion and hearing other reasons why God discourages debt.

Part Two: Debt is still not a sin!!

When I opened the blog this morning, I must say I was a little disappointed at the total number of comments with other ideas about why debt is discouraged in the Bible. I wasn't really expecting thousands of ideas, maybe 100's but not 1,000's. Well at least something a little higher than the total of zero I saw.

Maybe next week I will have to try to send one of my family members on a guilt trip so at least I have one comment. That's OK though, I realize not everyone sits around thinking about stuff similar to this like I do.

Anyway, here is another reason why I believe God discourages debt. Remember, debt is not a sin, but God certainly does not encourage it.

Did you ever think that one of the easiest ways for God to communicate His will to us (outside of the Bible) is through money? If God owns everything, (which He does Psalm 24:1, Deuteronomy 10:14, Haggai 2:8 etc.) and He wants us to wait for something (which He does Galatians 6:9), wouldn't it make sense for Him to do this by withholding the funds to buy it?

Let me be very practical with an illustration. Suppose we want to buy a car. God knows some things about that car that we don't know. Remember, He is omniscient (Psalm 139:1-6) and knows the future (Jeremiah 29:11) and has a plan for our future.

Maybe God knows that the car will take us into places that are not pleasing to Him. Maybe God knows that the car will take too much of our time and attention away from our family and serving Him. Maybe God knows that car has bad brakes and we or someone we love will be driving that car and end up in a fatal accident.

If you were God, and owned everything wouldn't it make sense to withhold the money for the purchase of that car? But what do we do? We go to our friendly bank or any other of the many options and take out a quick loan and buy that car.

Yes, I believe this is true and have seen this far too many times. God uses money (either supplying it or withholding it) to show us His will for our lives. Borrowing money can very easily put us in a position where we bypass the opportunity of seeing God's hand leading in our lives.

OK, so where are we? Last time we said that debt presumes upon the future which God does not want us to do. Here we see that borrowing money can bypass God's direction in our lives.

This is still just the beginning. There are other reasons why I believe that God discourages debt. What other reasons can you come up with that God might discourage borrowing money and debt?

I look forward to hearing other comments. This time I won't set my expections quite so high. Instead of 1000's of comments, maybe one more might be nice. I do look forward to hearing your thoughts on this.