Living Simple
LIVING DEBT FREE
Many years ago, God impressed it upon me to get out of debt and to do everything I can to remain that way. He also asked me to warn other people to do the same. Although currently I do owe money, God has lovingly integrated this into a larger training programme that I’m in (all things together for good). Story for another day!
Proverbs 22:7 says, in part, that the borrower is the slave of the lender. I’ve found that to be true. Painfully so. As you would if you have ever taken a loan from a friend, family member, financial institution or other. Suddenly, your liberties are curtailed in certain respects: any money that comes in is already committed, new investment ideas or purchases have to be weighed against scheduled payouts. If you default, socially, your life takes a different turn – you find yourself not really wanting to run into that person who you owe, dodging phone calls, emails and so on, perhaps concoting lie upon lie to cover up your actions.
The situation exerts a whole new set of demands on you that you didn’t realise that you had invited on yourself. Sometimes the pressure that owing can exert upon an individual impacts their mental and physical health as well. Stress and anxiety can manifest themselves physically as insomnia and ulcers. In extreme circumstances there have been cases of depression leading to cases of suicide.
Debt has the power to influence and limit your life’s direction and choices. I have observed (and entertained in myself both) the boisterousness of the one owed and the timidity and fearfulness of the one in debt and I have noted one thing they have in common. They’re both tied, to each other and to a system that rules their minds. It’s awful to be in a situation being constantly under subjugation to an entity and to be (almost) completely unaware. And that entity is Mammon.
Since God spoke to me concerning debt, almost 12 years ago, I have come to understand that debt is not limited to money alone. It’s a reality that emerges from a transaction [interactions with people, systems etc] where commitments made by mouth or in writing or in the heart now bind one to operate in a certain limited capacity until one has fulfilled the terms of the commitment. Both the one you have made the commitment to (person, place or thing) and yourself are bound together by debt (promise) until it is repaid.
How is one to navigate this world with all its choices and demands debt-free?
Do nothing without God’s say so. Righteousness belongs to God. It stands to reason that we are not to make any commitments outside of God’s will, or else the cost of that debt can even be a snare unto us. Like it happened with Jephthah (Judges 11 from vs 29) upon requesting God to give him victory over the people of Ammon, he swore an oath unto God that whatever come out of the doors of his house first upon his peaceful return home from victory over the people of Ammon, he would sacrifice this to God. Then his daughter, and only child rushed out to meet him upon his return. He was distraught but committed, and she in turn gave him strength to honor his oath to the Lord by laying down her life, willingly.
So then living debt free is not purely about money, but about making a commitment concerning any matter under the sun, outside of or according to the will of God and fulfilling the terms of that commitment regardless of cost. For what you will owe, you must repay, and the cost of that repayment may sometimes be so high and you may consider backing out.
Living debt free is about honouring God in making plans and commitments with Him, and keeping them.
I set out to write this article focusing on the importance of being debt-free in cash-terms in the time of the anti-christ (which we are in already) and how important it is for you to stay out of the clutches and the influence of the system. I would have accompanied this with a step-by-step guide. While it is still important for you to take note, there is an assured way to cover that. Please understand that I learnt something more important than being debt-free in cash terms in the years between when God first spoke to me and today (and I am yet learning more) – that if you can keep faith with God and fellowship with Him, He will guide you to enable you to circumvent or successfully navigate through the days of the tribulation, without failing Him. And at the end of all things, you will be found debt-free in the most important way possible. Debt-free to God.
Please share your thoughts:
We’d love to hear from you any thoughts, questions, ideas that you may have concerning debt-free living. God-willing, we may share these on one of our platforms.
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What's Your Reaction?
I recently learnt an important lesson about what you call living debt free. Like you say both the debtor and the one owed live in the power of mammon. When you are the one owed money you may easily release yourself by simply letting go of what you are owed and suddenly the resentment and anger towards those who owe you dissapears. Let God guide us when we seek His wisdom and mammon will no longer have a hold over us.