You probably just opened up your W-2 this past week and if you are like me, you are dreading the whole process of collecting information and adding up receipts and paying your taxes. Add to taxes your normal bills… then your school debt… car loans… credit card loans… mortgage and the list could continue.
I am grateful that we own both our cars and the only debt we carry right now is on Cassie’s School loan from graduating in 2010 and our home. I am looking forward to being out of these debts and we are working hard on eliminating her school loan.
You can ask different people and you’ll get different answers about debt. Dave Ramsey says you ought to own your home and pay cash for college. Others say a little debt is healthy.
But what does the Bible say about debt?
Coincidentally, I was reading Romans 13 yesterday and in the Voice (a new Translation by Thomas Nelson) it reads:
So submission is not optional; it’s required. Bud don’t just submit for the sake of avoiding punishment; submit and abide by the laws because your conscience leads you to do the right thing. Pay your taxes for the same reason because the authorities are servants of God, giving their full attention to take care of these things. Pay all of them what you owe. If you owe taxes, then pay. If you owe fees, then pay. In the same way, give honor and respect to those who deserve it.
Don’t owe anyone anything, with the exception of love to one another – that is a debt which never ends – because the person who loves others has fulfilled the law.
Romans 13:5-8 (The Voice)
It’s clear the only debt we are to have is the debt to love one another. Does that mean Dave Ramsey’s right?… well, probably so.
I’m adding a new life goal:
Be in debt to no one, except the debt love.
So pay what you must, give honor and respect to those who are positioned to deserve it, and know that you are indebted to love one another.