Following is what I believe may be a more Christ-like paradigm when it comes to borrowing. But please be clear: This is simply my opinion. I encourage you to read it and prayerfully consider whether you agree. It’s based on Christians asking at least two very important questions before we borrow money.

Ask Yourself, “What is My Motive?”   

A lot of Christians get into debt problems because they don’t monitor their motives. A lot of debt happens when we Christians don’t trust God enough to provide for us. Then we allow our fear and greed to take over our decision-making process. Jesus warned about greed in Luke 12: “Watch out! Be on your guard against all forms of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” He told us that if God knows the very number of hairs on each of our heads, then He is surely able to care for us. 

And a first cousin to greed is a little thing called vanity. A lot of our bad borrowing happens when we buy stuff we don’t need, with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t even know. That’s bad!

Ask Yourself, “What is My Ability to Repay?”

It may seem intuitive that when we borrow money we have to give it back. But remember, our culture does all it can to keep us from thinking about that little fact. After all, that’s the depressing thing about borrowed money.

For a lot of Christians, money pain happens when we listen to what the world tells us to do. Madison Avenue, Detroit, and Wall Street all encourage us to go into debt regularly. They tell us, “Ninety days are the same as cash.”  “No payments until…”  “Don’t worry; you’ll get a Christmas bonus.” 

The trouble is ninety days is not the same as cash! And there will be payments due before 2084! That’s when today’s instant gratification becomes tomorrow’s bondage.

The truth is, I’ve never been to a restaurant that is worth it. Did you know that if you’re paying the minimum on $4,000 of credit card debt (about a third of what many families now owe), it will take you over twenty years to pay that off? Some of us have made payments this month on meals that we ate during the Reagan Administration! That’s dumb debt!

The season of gift-giving is going into high gear. Prepare now to buy only what you can afford so years from now you won't still be paying off Christmas of '07!

A complete financial compendium, 19 chapters
• What you can do today to get out of debt and kill the Debt Monster
• A,B,C's of handling your money God's way
• How to save, invest, and retire wisely
• How mutual funds work
• How to stop fighting over money
• What to teach your kids about money
• Learn how home & car buying, college financing and insurance work.
• How to develop a budget that works -- forever!
• Features simple charts, graphs, and easy-to-use forms.

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