Lots of people live in debt. Often, this debt is due to exactly what Mike Cope wrote about yesterday:
I just read that since 1990, income in the United States is up 11%. But spending is up 30%, and debt has risen by 80%!
It’s frightening how easy it is to live above your means through credit cards. And more and more people are doing just that. It brings a shower of blessings to get the latest flat-screen television or the newest computer or a new wardrobe . . . but the shower very quickly turns into a drought when the credit card bills come due. As people pay the minimum amount, they grow further and further behind.
It takes discipline to say, "We’ll buy only what we can afford." And it takes even more to decide to live beneath your means (see yesterday’s post) — opening up resources for tithing, for sharing, and for savings.
You don’t have to have the health club membership or the new shoes or the roomful of new furniture or the larger house or the MP3 player. You don’t have to take the exotic vacation. No purchase or vacation can ease the mind quite like living without debt.
There was once a person at our church who worked for an area bank. He and his wife were both in their late 20’s at the time. I noticed that he and his wife live frugally. I also notices that a number of their friends (in their 20’s as well) were living a very different lifestyle. It seemed that many of them were spending a lot of money on the kind of things that Mike mentions above. My friend told me, "I’ve learned that some people only appear to be doing very well financially. In fact, some of these people are getting into more and more personal debt."
I don’t know anything that puts more stress and strain on new marriages than debt. This is a faith issue for those of us who are Christ-followers. Will we trust God or will we insist on living above our means?
(You might find the Crown Financial Ministries site helpful)