DEBT IS A TRAP. More Contagious than COVID and any other disease are the enticements of the world. We live in a materialistic society, and at times it can be tempting to fall prey to the temptation of debt. How can we avoid falling into the debt trap?
In the Bible, God has provided us with practical guidance on how to live above the stresses of life, and we are given instructions on how to manage the resources He has given us.
In this series,
From a biblical perspective, we are looking at how to manage effectively the resources God has given us while prioritizing What Really Matters.
Review any of our previous lessons @ SabbathSchoolDaily.com.
Also, you can obtain the study guide to these lessons @ Sabbath.School or ssnet.org
Talking to the Father
Holy Father, we are tempted by the things of this world, and often we fall prey to the lures of Satan. Forgive us and give us the strength we need to resist his evil enticements. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
Though as expressed in the previous day’s lesson, taking on debt is not a sin in and of itself it is hazardous. Debt makes us a servant to the lender. God gives us counsel regarding the pitfalls of debt. To avoid these pitfalls, it is best to obey His counsel.
Proverbs 12:15 tells us that:
15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But he who heeds counsel is wise. (Proverbs 12:15)
The following is further counseling on managing the resources that God gives us, and it also talks about the importance of humbly seeking counseling.
“Some have no tact at wise management of worldly matters. They lack the necessary qualifications, and Satan takes advantage of them. When this is the case, such should not remain in ignorance of their task. They should be humble enough to counsel with their brethren, in whose judgment they can have confidence before they carry out plans…Some are not humble enough to let those who have judgment calculate for them. They wait until they have followed their own plans, which placed them in difficulties. Then they see the necessity of having the counsel and judgment of their brethren, but how much less of a problem it would have been had they sought counsel from the beginning. —Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 200. (Adapted)
In other words, it is wise to seek counsel. Yes, we are material beings, and we live in a material world that can be very enticing. Who hasn’t thought about being rich or winning the lottery?
There’s nothing wrong with our working hard to earn an honest living. There’s nothing wrong with having wealth or even being wealthy.
But where the line is drawn is in how we set our priorities. We must avoid the trap of making idols out of money, wealth, and material possessions.
God has promised us divine power to help us stay faithful to Him and to do what He wants us to do. We need to remember His precious promises.
His divine power is necessary. The temptation and danger of loving money, desiring wealth, pursuing riches, and having material possession have led many to ruin. And it could lead us to eternal ruin.
Matthew 6:24 and 1 John 2:15 offers counseling regarding desiring wealth above loving and having a relationship with God.
Matthew 6:24
24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Matthew 6:24)
I John 2:15
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (I John 2:15)
Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing warns us of the danger in even taking a neutral position as it relates to God. (Split)
No one can occupy a neutral position; there is no middle class, who neither love God nor serve the enemy of righteousness. Christ is to live in His human agents and work through their faculties and act through their capabilities. Their will must be submitted to His will; they must act with His Spirit. Then it is no more they that live, but Christ that lives in them. He who does not give himself wholly to God is under the control of another power, listening to another voice, whose suggestions are of an entirely different character. Half-and-half service places the human agent on the side of the enemy as a successful ally of the hosts of darkness.—Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, pp. 93, 94.
The problem is that in seeking wealth, we could fall into loving things more than we love God. A true litmus test of excessive love for things is buying more than we can afford. Buying more than we can afford places us in deep debt.
King Solomon was the richest man that ever lived. In Ecclesiastes 4:8, he concludes that the pursuit of wealth and riches, and material possession is all vanity, pointless, (useless).
8 There is one alone, without companion: He has neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his labors, Nor is his eye satisfied with riches. But he never asks, “For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good?” This also is vanity and a grave misfortune. (Ecclesiastes 4:8)
You see, the allurements of the world can be so strong, so enticing that we get into debt hoping to satisfy our craving for wealth and possession. But it never works, that’s what King Solomon was saying. It is all pointless.
What’s more, whatever we possess belongs to God. And he expects us to invest his capital wisely. This is the point made in Testimonies to the Church Vol 2:
God calls us servants, which implies that we are employed by Him to do a certain work and bear certain responsibilities. He has lent us capital for investment. It is not our property, and we displease God if we hoard up our Lord’s goods or spend them as we please. We are responsible for the use or abuse of that which God has thus lent us. If this capital which the Lord has placed in our hands lies dormant, or we bury it in the earth, even if it is only one talent, we shall be called to an account by the Master. He requires, not ours, but His own with usury.—Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, p. 668.
The point is that Satan’s goal is to make us servants to the lender. He tries to get us to act selfishly and use what God has given us to serve ourselves.
This result in us buying things we cannot afford and thus we become servants to the lenders rather than a servant of God.
But God, in his loving mercy, wants to help. His advice is that we pay the money we owe.
He Knows the pitfall of being in debt. Thus, he wants us to be debt-free. So, He gives us counsel throughout the Bible to guide us to financial freedom.
For instance, Psalm 50:14, 15 advises us to
14 Offer to God thanksgiving, And pay your vows to the Most High.
15 Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” (Psalm 50:14, 15) (Split)
So even when we have fallen prey to the temptation of debt. God’s promise is that when we call on him in the day of trouble, he will deliver us.
As children of God, we praise and thank Him. We praise Him for creating us and saving us. (Split)
This is what Psalm 50:14, 15 tells us to do. When we give God our thanks and our offerings, He promises to honor us and help us when we are in trouble.
For those who are in trouble and have fallen away from His divine plan, His council is to return to Him and renew His covenant found in Malachi 3:10–12. (Split)
10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.
11 “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” Says the Lord of hosts;
12 “And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land,” Says the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 3:10–12)
To those who do so, God promises deliverance and blessings. The sincere desire to do what is right is an indication of grace at work because:
“the goodness of God leads you to repentance” (Romans 2:4).
Now what if it is my desire to get out of debt, but I do not know how to? What can I do to become debt free? Good Question, view the counsel offered in
Day 4: How to Get Out of Debt
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