Join us this Sunday! In-Person 9:00am & 10:45am, Online 9:00am, 10:45am & 5:00pm

Join us this Sunday! In-Person 9:00am & 10:45am, Online 9:00am, 10:45am & 5:00pm

Join us at the next Sunday worship service:
In-Person
9:00am & 10:45am,
Online 9:00am, 10:45am & 5:00pm

Life And Debt

“Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” – Romans 13:8.

Imagine for a second that you hear a knock at the door. You pause the TV and walk over and open the door. There stands God, and after a pause God looks at you and says, “Come follow me …”  You are naturally speechless and mesmerized for a few seconds. 

Then reality hits and without much though you blurt out “This is not a good time to follow you. I have a pretty good job and as you know Lord, I need a pretty good job. I owe thousands on my credit cards. I bought a new car and have four years of payments and the mortgage payment won’t pay itself. So when you take all of that into consideration, you can understand why I just can’t pick up and leave, right?” 

You would not be alone both in that predicament and in that response. But if God came today asking you to walk away from everything and follow Him, would you have to say “no” due to financial obligations? Very often our ability to respond to God’s call or follow His plan for our lives is related to our financial situation, especially debt.

The Bible clearly discourages debt.  Romans 13:8 reads: “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another” and in Proverbs 22:7 we learn that “Just as the rich rule the poor, so the borrower is servant to the lender.”  In today’s culture slave probably seems like a strong word and it is. But see if you don’t feel like a slave if you miss a payment or two on your mortgage, car loan or credit card.

Years ago, during the housing crash and recession that followed, there were a lot of people who looked at debt in a whole new light. The financial woes provided an opportunity to fully understand what Proverbs 22:7 is telling us. As users of the resources that God has blessed us with, we should be careful spenders not just during a recession, but as a response to His call to be good stewards of all the blessings He has showered upon us. We need to be careful that we don’t fall into the trap that how we handle money doesn’t have a direct impact on our spiritual life.  

Think about the same scenario I mentioned earlier. You hear a knock at the door and open it to hear God say “Come follow me …” Your response is, “”There is nothing that would prevent me from from following your will for my life, Lord. So Here I am. I will go if You lead me.”

 Discussion Questions:

  1. What has been your experience with debt?
  2. What makes it so difficult to get out of debt?
  3. What are the benefits of living debt free? How would your life change?

  

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