Daily Devotional for Monday February 28, 2000

Being Debt Free

(2 Kings 4:1-7)

For those of you who have been reading my devotionals for a while, you know that I try to take a practical approach to the scriptures. While it is wrong to compromise the Word of God, many take passages out of context and become dogmatic to the point where they actually violate other scriptures, such as being a stumbling block to your brother or sister. The issue of debt is one of those where I have heard much dogmatic and incorrect teaching. I believe scripture teaches us to be debt free. There is no doubt that God?s children are most effective when they are in that state. Does that mean you are going to hell if you are not debt free? No. It just means that you have another area of your life to work on, to prepare a game plan for, and to work towards that goal.

The ideal place to be is to have a residence paid off, a car paid off, earning an income that is meeting your monthly obligations with some left over for investments and savings. Unfortunately, that is NOT where most of God?s children are. The important thing is to start where you currently are financially, and put a game plan together that will get you from that point to the ideal place I just mentioned. God has gifted many people in the Kingdom with the ability to consult and advise people how to first get out of debt and then stay out of debt. A good friend of mine is Dave Ramsey of Nashville Tennessee who is one such person. Larry Burkett is another. You can go to any Christian bookstore and find books by these men to help you in this area.

Let me give you one starting point, though, in your goal to become debt free. Tithing. I have counseled many over the years in this area and have heard them say, ?I can?t afford to tithe.? My response is, ?You can?t afford NOT to tithe.? Like everything in life, there are spiritual principles for money as well ? specific laws God has laid out to guide us in this area of life. When you obey those laws, you are successful. When you rebel, you pay the consequences. Those of you in debt didn?t get there overnight. It was a long process over many years. The road out won?t be easy, but God will help you as long as you start following His guidelines. One of God?s spiritual laws involves sowing and reaping. You can?t reap a harvest of corn until you sow corn seeds into the ground. Likewise, you can?t reap financial blessings unless you are willing to sow financial seeds. It may not make sense to you, but the Bible says often the things of God confound the wise. I don?t totally understand why every time I drop a brick from a high place it goes straight to the ground, but I have done it enough times to know that it will happen. I am not always totally understanding the things of God, but I trust them from experience, knowing that His way works.

I will be praying for you today. I know from my email many battle problems with debt. Let me encourage you today that God is able to help you formulate a game plan and give you the strength to follow it to victory. Be faithful and follow His principles in this area, and you will get the weight of debt off your back.

I love you and care about you a great deal. I am going to be fasting and in prayer for the elimination of your debt. God has great things for us to accomplish, and one way His children can be more effective is to get the burden of debt off of our back that hinders so many in the world. It gives us a great advantage as we share with this hurting and dying world the Good News of Jesus Christ. Never forget, no matter how it may look in the natural, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE WITH GOD!!!