The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender (Proverbs 22:7).
Debt Is Not Part of God's Plan for Us
God wants to meet all of our needs through our relationship in Christ, not through debt(Philippians 4:19). He even promises in Deuteronomy 15:6 and 28:12,that if we obey Him we will not have to borrow. The Bible does not record any instance of God sending His people anywhere at anytime to do anything for Him on borrowed money(See the entire Bible). At the same time, we must recognize that we are in debt to begin to transition out of debt and into a position of not being in debt. Our debt may have just been a part of our lifestyle because of how we were raised. Then again, we may be in debt because of our covetousness and impatience to acquire things, and we're not content to patiently wait upon God for His supply to us in His time. The world offers to us the opportunity to get our things now by going to the rich, borrowing their money and becoming their servant(Proverbs 22:7). Debt satisfies this covetousness and impatience for only a very short time. But, as is the way of th
e flesh, we soon become tired of the things we have and borrow even more to acquire more and newer things.
How Do We Get Out of Debt?
Repentance - to Patience - to Prosperity. Debt is a symptom of our being in the world, covetousness and/or impatience. So to get out of debt, we should not focus on the debt but on identifying and repenting for our underlying sins of covetousness and impatience. Then we should conform our lifestyle to repent for the lifestyle and patiently wait upon God to supply our need in His time. It is in this period that this new-found patience will cause our soul to prosper and, as our soul prospers, God will prosper us and take us out of debt(III John 2). God may well determine to use an extended debt work-out to instill in us the disciplines of patience and diligence. In our journey out of debt we should act diligently, not desperately, and allow Him to take us out of debt in His time.
Honoring the Obligation of Debt
In the midst of our walking in the diligence and patience that follow true repentance, we must recognize that our debt is an obligation (albeit one that God never wanted us to make) that must be honored in decency and good order (Joshua 9 & 10). Regardless of the fact that we have repented, the lender is still our master until the debt is paid or otherwise discharged.
Insight to Freedom was founded in 1983 by John and Donna Deal. This ministry was born out of John and Donna's walk out of $6,500,000 indebtedness from 1974-1986. For more information, visit
www.insighttofreedom.com.
