The Sun Can't Be Seen When the Debts Are Piled So High

There is a local furniture store that will sell without customers having to make any payments for years. It means their furniture is priced so high they can afford to wait on your payments. It means that they are going to ask for serious collateral before making this loan. It means it is to their advantage to sell their furniture this way. I cannot understand why anyone would accept this deal. Why can't people be patient enough to wait until they can afford furniture? They will get it at a much better price with cash.

I fear debt. The Bible says, "The borrower becomes the lender's slave." (Proverbs 22:7) I don't want my ministry to be hampered because of my debt. The Bible also says, "The wicked borrow and do not repay." All debts must be repaid or I am wicked. If I can't afford it now, why should I believe I can afford it later? I limit my debt to my house. I used to think that was an appreciating investment. I am not so sure anymore. I pay my credit cards off every month. I just don't want to say, "Lord, I can't do what you want because I have so much debt."

America is borrowing heavily from China. What does that tell us? What happens if they were to call for their loans to be paid quickly? Would we become their slaves? Will our children be the slaves of the Chinese because of our desire to avoid difficult circumstances? Is it immoral to hand people such a large debt?

I know this sounds political but it is truly a moral issue to me. I am sorry for all the greed America has displayed which got her into this situation. I am sorry that it will cause immediate hardships to people. I, however, do not believe it is better to delay these hardships on others. I believe our generation needs to be the one who owns its own mistakes and sins. It would be extremely hard but we should hand the next generation a better America than we are doing now.

The generation before my generation knew that they wanted their children to live a better life. They fought a world war to keep us safe and prosperous. They paid a huge price to hand us an America we could do anything with. Don't we have that same responsibility for our children and grandchildren? Aren't we just a greedy as those who placed us in this recession when we put off our debts to the next generation?

We have two choices: Borrow our way so high in debt that we will never see the end of it or take our lumps, brush ourselves off and show what Americans are made of.

If you choose the first I recommend you start teaching your children Chinese. The first word they will need to know is "master."