Til Debt Do Us Part

I grew up believing that one needed to establish credit early on.  I accepted the notion that it was better to buy something on payments even when you could pay for it outright in order to establish credit.  I embraced the American philosophy of credit as king in all things financial.  I bought into a lie.  Credit is not king, it is a trap that places us in the clutches of the tyrant debt just as soon as we actually use the credit to borrow: "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender" (Pr 22:7).

Funny how nice of a ring credit has - it almost rolls off the tongue.  It sounds like such a nice thing to "extend" someone credit.  However, it suddenly loses it's allure when you discover that the extending of credit was really letting out enough rope for you to be hung by the noose of debt.

Debt sounds so much different than credit, doesn't it?  Credit sounds like your friend inviting you out on his boat, while debt sounds more like a pirate forcing you to walk the plank.  Credit is only a positive in the ledger of life until the moment you use it, then it becomes a negative.  In bookkeeping and in life, there are debits and credits.  Credits are good, debits are bad.

I bought into the myth (or should I say I borrowed into the myth) of gaining credit by losing in debt until  I was buried in debt many years ago and had to dig my way out with an austerity program I signed up with through a debt management agency.  I should give their number to Greece and our Congress.  It was a difficult time and unfortunately, I still believed in the credit myth only that I had over used it.  So, once out of debt, I started rebuilding my credit, which led to re-digging my money pit of debt.

Since that time, I came across a radical name "Dave Ramsey," who advocates being debt free and has helped millions reach that place.  He believes that the only debt you should have is your mortgage as it is an investment.  But, even then, he challenges people  to pay it off "with gazelle intensity."

Why?  Why so hard on credit?  Because credit is the #1 cause of debt.  And debt is the #1 cause of financial failure.  And financial failure is the #1 contributing factor to divorce. Oh, did I mention that 100% of bankruptcy is caused by debt?   Do you see a pattern here - a pattern of destruction?

The apostle Paul said, "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another" (Rom 13:8).  Why do you suppose he said that?  I believe it is because God is love and that debt is and ought to be eternal, while financial debt results in slavery, which is contrary to why Jesus came: "He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor" (Lk 4:18-19).

Credit may be needed at times.  In fact, we are charged to "lend to them without expecting to get anything back" (Lk 6:35).  However, to choose to be in debt when you could live without it is patently foolish and contrary to God's will for us.  Jesus came to set us free and freedom is our companion "Til debt do us part."  Jus' Say'n.