You read the title correctly – I did not ask if you were destitute. My question is: Are you debt-stitute – meaning, are you suffering from fear, worry, and stress caused by excessive debt?
A report from the Pew Charitable Trust found that 8 in 10 Americans are in debt (including mortgages), with about 40 percent holding credit card debt.
The best-case scenario is to never have any consumer debt. That is debt that is not backed by an asset to support the payoff of the debt. According to the Pew report, 40% of Americans are carrying consumer debt.
In a healthy budget, consumer debt takes up only five percent of income because as debt goes up, options go down.
Proverbs 22:7 notes, “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.”
As Christians, we should avoid being enslaved by any form of bondage. Satan has trapped many Christians into believing that they cannot live without debt! This is a lie and must be rejected if you are ever going to be free. Here’s some advice to help you get out of debt-stitution:
First, stop all unnecessary borrowing. Learn to pay cash. Put the credit cards away and start an emergency savings account. If you absolutely have to borrow some money, before you take on an obligation, calculate your income and the size of the potential debt to be sure you can minimize all borrowing as much as possible and pay it off as quickly as possible.
As long as you believe debt is necessary for you, you will remain in financial slavery. Maybe today is the day you change your mind. Don’t take my word for it. Go to your Bible and read what God’s Word has to say about it. Today could be the day that changes your entire future.
