What is a biblical view of debt?
Dear Friends,
It’s the New Year. It’s Friday. I don’t know if your start to the year has been as busy as mine, but I imagine that it has. We live in a busy culture and have multiple demands on our time and energy. I suspect that you are very happy to see a Friday come your way!
Just today, I was at a conference listening to a speaker talk about margin, or “capacity,” as he called it. He highlighted four areas of struggle for margin in our lives: financial, emotional, spiritual, and time. You may feel pressed in all of those areas, but if you are struggling with the debt question, then you are pressed in the area of financial margin.
Any margin issue in our lives begs some fundamental questions such as: What are my priorities? Do my activities correlate with my priorities? Am I making decisions out of my larger goals, or do I make decisions reactively? Can I eliminate some “low quality” activities (spending patterns) that are thinning my margin? What is God showing me about Himself in my struggles with margin?
If you are struggling with financial margin in your life, and if that struggle is played out in a debt issue, please take the opportunity that the New Year presents. Perhaps even this weekend, take a few hours to sit with your finances and with the questions above to consider why your financial margin is thin. Take ownership of the issue, and commit to two or three steps that God reveals to you in that time.
There is only one real answer to debt: spend less than you earn and do it consistently. However, there are many reasons that you may be in debt or struggling with that area of margin in your life. Seek to understand what is behind your struggle, and ask God to show you how to be proactive and, simultaneously, how to trust Him for guidance and provision in the journey.
On the other hand, if you don’t struggle with financial margin, take the opportunity to examine what is behind other struggles you may face with your time, your emotional energy, or your spiritual life. It will be a valuable journey for you!
May God’s peace encourage you as you pursue financial wisdom and depend on His Truth.
Blessings,
Ron
Click here for the video transcript
It’s the New Year. It’s Friday. I don’t know if your start to the year has been as busy as mine, but I imagine that it has. We live in a busy culture and have multiple demands on our time and energy. I suspect that you are very happy to see a Friday come your way!
Just today, I was at a conference listening to a speaker talk about margin, or “capacity,” as he called it. He highlighted four areas of struggle for margin in our lives: financial, emotional, spiritual, and time. You may feel pressed in all of those areas, but if you are struggling with the debt question, then you are pressed in the area of financial margin.
Any margin issue in our lives begs some fundamental questions such as: What are my priorities? Do my activities correlate with my priorities? Am I making decisions out of my larger goals, or do I make decisions reactively? Can I eliminate some “low quality” activities (spending patterns) that are thinning my margin? What is God showing me about Himself in my struggles with margin?
If you are struggling with financial margin in your life, and if that struggle is played out in a debt issue, please take the opportunity that the New Year presents. Perhaps even this weekend, take a few hours to sit with your finances and with the questions above to consider why your financial margin is thin. Take ownership of the issue, and commit to two or three steps that God reveals to you in that time.
There is only one real answer to debt: spend less than you earn and do it consistently. However, there are many reasons that you may be in debt or struggling with that area of margin in your life. Seek to understand what is behind your struggle, and ask God to show you how to be proactive and, simultaneously, how to trust Him for guidance and provision in the journey.
On the other hand, if you don’t struggle with financial margin, take the opportunity to examine what is behind other struggles you may face with your time, your emotional energy, or your spiritual life. It will be a valuable journey for you!
May God’s peace encourage you as you pursue financial wisdom and depend on His Truth.
Blessings,
Ron
Click here for the video transcript
Ron,
I like your assement on debt. I have a couple of questions though. Do you think God asks us to go into debt to do work for his kingdom and if so is there any examples in the bible that I can reference?
Thanks,
Chris
Reply to this