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The Bible doesn’t prohibit borrowing; neither does it encourage it. Every biblical reference to borrowing money is negative. Why? As Proverbs explains, “The borrower is servant to the lender.” Up until the last century in the English-speaking world, failure to pay one’s debts resulted in some form of slavery—a physical consequence. An entire family could become slaves to the lender, literally becoming his property. Another possible consequence resulted in “spending time,” or even the rest of one’s life, in debtor’s prison. And, in Roman times, the creditors of a man who could not pay his debts broke up his workbench to make sure that he did not start trading again. From the two Latin words that described this custom, we get our English word bankrupt. So, until recently physical bondage resulted from failure to abide by biblical principles.
Nowadays, the debtor’s prisons are not made of stone and iron; they are made of plastic. And financial bondage is not physical, but mental: anxiety, sleeplessness, or stress. Because of this biblical principle—the borrower is servant to the lender—when we are in debt, we give our personal power away to lenders. Our debt robs us of the freedom of choice. It robs us of joy. It causes the magic of compounding to work against us, rather than for us. It sentences us to a lower standard of living in the future. It presumes upon the future.
Are you in financial bondage? Are your finances out of control? If you are, there is help. First, seek God’s control. The controlling center of our lives should not be money but God. Next, give money away. Giving away money breaks the chains of bondage money has over our lives. Then, take time to plan. Proper planning prevents poor performance. The planning tool for money management is called a budget. The function of a budget is to tell your money where to go instead of wondering where it went. Finally, live below your means.
And, then, never become a slave to debt again.
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