Why Debt is Not Okay
Dear Sisters,
"Let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law." Romans 13:8
"Give everyone what you owe him: if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor." Romans 13:7
We live in a society that promotes debt. We receive its promotion in our mailboxes, in our magazines, in our newspapers, and in our television ads. But God's Word, The Truth, speaks of the opposite. "Let no debt remain outstanding." And if you owe someone, pay him back. In other words, get out of debt. Sometimes it takes a lot longer to get out of it than it did to get into it. All the time it is better not to get into debt.
Let me give a definition of debt: something that someone else owns which is costing you interest to finally own. So that covers a house, a car, and anything else that you pay interest on to finally own--usually at a much higher cost than it was originally priced. So debt is quite costly. It can cost one's health and peace as well; for nothing can make one worry more than being in debt beyond the means to pay it back. Many marriages have suffered from this malady.
First I want to speak about not getting into debt. This is so important for many women who are contemplating marriage. When I first married my husband he was a private in the army. We lived in Germany off base and had no children for two years. I worked in the bank on base. We didn't use my earnings to live on. Even though my husband's salary was meager by the world's standards, we lived off just his salary and banked all of mine. Away. In the states. In this way we would not be tempted to touch it. In two years we came back to the states with $8500 in our U.S. bank account. I was twenty-two and Art was twenty-five.
What did that mean for us as newlyweds? It meant that we lived within my husband's means. So when I became pregnant with our first child we knew that my husband could support us for he had been supporting us the past two years. It also meant learning to tithe, budget, and sacrifice in our early marriage days.
Our first car only had two cylinders. It was called a duck mobile or a student car by the Germans. We bought it because it was only $500 and that was what we had saved. The gear shift came out of the dash board, so it was like learning to drive all over again for the both of us. Many times we walked, road the bus, or road the train if that was a better choice for our duck mobile often had to be pushed down the street to get started. We met some neighbors this way!
We had no phone. It was a luxury we could not afford. We rarely ate out. This was also a luxury we could not afford. We did not have a charge card for the first ten years of our marriage. When we did, we did not charge anything that we could not pay that month. So we never paid any interest on a charge card and never have to this day. We learned the German word for "sale." We also learned to shop at thrift shops and bargain hunt. We traveled to France, Switzerland, Spain, Austria, and Tunisia on some of the most enjoyable bargain tours we could manage.
I had to learn how to cook. I was absolutely horrible at it. Art threw up my first meal. I had to learn how to budget. I would take Art's pay and subtract everything we had to pay in that month. And those things that were not fixed such as food and clothing and gas I did my best to reduce our costs. Many times I had to wash our clothes in the tub. We couldn't afford a vacuum, so I swept my rug for months. I also learned to grow plants in pots on my patio. This was a great learning time for me which I don't believe I have ever stopped learning.
We fished a lot. I did not like fish when I got married, but I married a fisherman, so I learned to love fish. And it was quite inexpensive since we caught it for free in Germany.
I write you this story to help you understand it is better to do without than to buy on credit and suffer within. Within yourself and within your marriage. It's not the amount of money that comes in, it's how it goes out.
Can I speak to you freely as I would to my children that I dearly love? Give to the LORD first out of you income. It is the foundation of your finances.
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. 'Test me in this,' says the LORD Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of Heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have enough room for it.' " Malachi 3:10
Do not get into debt on any charge card. It is not worth anything you are going to buy. It is worth it to go without or figure out another way. Pray, pray, pray. For He promises to give wisdom if we would ask for it. Ask, ask, ask. It is better to have a meal of vegetables with love than a meal of meat with worry and concern. We have had many meals of lovely vegetables.
Stay out of the stores. Especially malls. They are set up to make buying very attractive to you. Our country shops as a past time. An expensive past time. Go to the stores that you need to go to with a list in hand. Again, pray, please pray. It is better to learn to stay home more building it up and to shop less. You will also save on gas and wear and tear on your car.
Always save some of your money. The Bible says a wise man has a storehouse, but the foolish man uses up all that he has. Even if it is only $20 a month, save it.
Now I know there are many who are desperately in debt. Tomorrow I will write to you about getting out of debt. It has been my joy to help women get out of debt. For I think one of the homemaker's greatest assets is helping to free her family from debt or keep them from debt. Tomorrow I will share with you how I have learned to do that.
Love,
Laine
"Let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law." Romans 13:8
"Give everyone what you owe him: if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor." Romans 13:7
We live in a society that promotes debt. We receive its promotion in our mailboxes, in our magazines, in our newspapers, and in our television ads. But God's Word, The Truth, speaks of the opposite. "Let no debt remain outstanding." And if you owe someone, pay him back. In other words, get out of debt. Sometimes it takes a lot longer to get out of it than it did to get into it. All the time it is better not to get into debt.
Let me give a definition of debt: something that someone else owns which is costing you interest to finally own. So that covers a house, a car, and anything else that you pay interest on to finally own--usually at a much higher cost than it was originally priced. So debt is quite costly. It can cost one's health and peace as well; for nothing can make one worry more than being in debt beyond the means to pay it back. Many marriages have suffered from this malady.
First I want to speak about not getting into debt. This is so important for many women who are contemplating marriage. When I first married my husband he was a private in the army. We lived in Germany off base and had no children for two years. I worked in the bank on base. We didn't use my earnings to live on. Even though my husband's salary was meager by the world's standards, we lived off just his salary and banked all of mine. Away. In the states. In this way we would not be tempted to touch it. In two years we came back to the states with $8500 in our U.S. bank account. I was twenty-two and Art was twenty-five.
What did that mean for us as newlyweds? It meant that we lived within my husband's means. So when I became pregnant with our first child we knew that my husband could support us for he had been supporting us the past two years. It also meant learning to tithe, budget, and sacrifice in our early marriage days.
Our first car only had two cylinders. It was called a duck mobile or a student car by the Germans. We bought it because it was only $500 and that was what we had saved. The gear shift came out of the dash board, so it was like learning to drive all over again for the both of us. Many times we walked, road the bus, or road the train if that was a better choice for our duck mobile often had to be pushed down the street to get started. We met some neighbors this way!
We had no phone. It was a luxury we could not afford. We rarely ate out. This was also a luxury we could not afford. We did not have a charge card for the first ten years of our marriage. When we did, we did not charge anything that we could not pay that month. So we never paid any interest on a charge card and never have to this day. We learned the German word for "sale." We also learned to shop at thrift shops and bargain hunt. We traveled to France, Switzerland, Spain, Austria, and Tunisia on some of the most enjoyable bargain tours we could manage.
I had to learn how to cook. I was absolutely horrible at it. Art threw up my first meal. I had to learn how to budget. I would take Art's pay and subtract everything we had to pay in that month. And those things that were not fixed such as food and clothing and gas I did my best to reduce our costs. Many times I had to wash our clothes in the tub. We couldn't afford a vacuum, so I swept my rug for months. I also learned to grow plants in pots on my patio. This was a great learning time for me which I don't believe I have ever stopped learning.
We fished a lot. I did not like fish when I got married, but I married a fisherman, so I learned to love fish. And it was quite inexpensive since we caught it for free in Germany.
I write you this story to help you understand it is better to do without than to buy on credit and suffer within. Within yourself and within your marriage. It's not the amount of money that comes in, it's how it goes out.
Can I speak to you freely as I would to my children that I dearly love? Give to the LORD first out of you income. It is the foundation of your finances.
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. 'Test me in this,' says the LORD Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of Heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have enough room for it.' " Malachi 3:10
Do not get into debt on any charge card. It is not worth anything you are going to buy. It is worth it to go without or figure out another way. Pray, pray, pray. For He promises to give wisdom if we would ask for it. Ask, ask, ask. It is better to have a meal of vegetables with love than a meal of meat with worry and concern. We have had many meals of lovely vegetables.
Stay out of the stores. Especially malls. They are set up to make buying very attractive to you. Our country shops as a past time. An expensive past time. Go to the stores that you need to go to with a list in hand. Again, pray, please pray. It is better to learn to stay home more building it up and to shop less. You will also save on gas and wear and tear on your car.
Always save some of your money. The Bible says a wise man has a storehouse, but the foolish man uses up all that he has. Even if it is only $20 a month, save it.
Now I know there are many who are desperately in debt. Tomorrow I will write to you about getting out of debt. It has been my joy to help women get out of debt. For I think one of the homemaker's greatest assets is helping to free her family from debt or keep them from debt. Tomorrow I will share with you how I have learned to do that.
Love,
Laine
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