In a country where everyone seems intent on living above their income, it is difficult to imagine being able to earn enough money to pay off one’s bills and still have money to save for other unforeseen expenses.
Even our own federal government teaches us that it is okay to spend way more than one makes, with a national debt of $17,693,902,137,190.55 (as of August 22, 1914 at 1:22:55 PM GMT). The estimated population of the United States is 318,864,439, so each citizen’s share is $55,490.35. The National Debt has continued to increase an average of $2.36 billion per day since September 30, 2012. (Source – US National Debt Clock)
More than 160 million Americans have credit cards. The average credit card holder has at least three cards. On average, each household with a credit card carries more than $15,000 in credit card debt.
In the days of my parents and grandparents, everyone had just come through the Great Depression of the 30’s. They had learned to struggle and survive on very little, many times growing their own gardens and bartering. After WWII there came an economic boom, enabling working Americans to be able to afford modest houses; while obtaining cheap financing for a new Ford or Chevy.
I sadly watched my dad, when he was laid off from work and in-between jobs, cry like a baby while standing in the lane of the farmhouse as the tow truck drove away with his repossessed new 1957 Chevy Bel Air. This was his first brand new car and he was 41 years old. I can’t imagine the heartache he must have felt as he watched them tow his ‘baby’ away. He loved that car. After Dad returned to work he made sure that he paid cash for every car after that and that there would be no more tow trucks hauling his cars away.
His generation bought small modest houses and, after they were paid off, they saved their money and only paid cash for what they needed. They were able to take long road trips and driving vacations because gasoline was only 26 cents per gallon; and they had money left to keep in their pockets.
This is totally upside down from our modern world of cars that cost as much as a house, and houses costing as much as a farm, and gasoline averaging close to $4.00 per gallon; while the average American carries a huge debt load, without any savings for emergencies, let alone a vacation.
Americans are living above their means; which only means they are one paycheck away from financial disaster. The 2008 financial crash has long been forgotten, in six short years! Even Donald Trump predicts a more fatal crash in the near future. You can read his predictions here: Billionaire Tells Americans to Prepare For ‘Financial Ruin’
This should not surprise us, as Christians; for the Bible foretells a One World Government with a One World Monetary System and a One World Religion, all ruled over by a very evil person possessed by Satan himself. The Antichrist comes on the scene as a man of peace, speaking flattering words; while he unfolds a hidden plan to enslave the masses with a ‘chip’ that will force everyone who accepts his mark to worship him as God. One half of the world’s population (as of today that figure is over 3 1/2 billion people), who will lose their lives in the Tribulation that the Prophets, Jesus and the Apostles have warned us is coming in ‘this generation’. (Luke 21:32)
The Bible teaches us to pay our debts and to owe no man anything. The Bible teaches us to give unto God the firstfruits of our labours, and to give freely of what we have, helping others; with the promise that God will give back to us overflowing without measure, and storing up treasures in heaven where moth and rust doth not corrupt. God loves a cheerful giver, as He has so freely given us His Son to redeem us from our sins, and has also freely given us all things in this life to enjoy. He even makes the Sun to rise on the just and the unjust.
Does this mean that, as Christians, we are not to carry any credit card or installment debts? No, as Jesus also teaches us to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves, and to give unto Ceasar what belongs to Ceasar. The cost of a new car and of a new house prohibits all but the wealthy to pay cash for these necessities of life. We are forced to finance a car and a house, and sometimes other things, to live comfortably and productively in a modern world.
What the Bible teaches is moderation in all things, and that includes our income to debt ratios. We need to buy modestly and smartly; making sure that we are able to pay not only our monthly payments, but to pay them ahead and completely off early, knowing that this worldly monetary system is coming to a close and the One World Government is going to confiscate everything in the not too far distant future.
A Christian’s savings account is not in the local bank, it is written on God’s Heavenly Books. A Christian’s source of income is not an earthly employer, it is God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills and all the silver and gold of this world. Why, the streets of heaven itself are paved with pure gold as clear as crystal!
I personally have seen God supply real estate taxes, groceries, unforeseen cash, material gifts of furniture and other material things, reduced rent, and many other needs miraculously; many times by the hands of complete strangers. Yes, even this is Scriptural; as Jesus taught us that He would cause unnamed men to give into our bosoms.
The problem is that we have been taught to live for today and not plan for tomorrow. But what are our children and grandchildren going to reap from our extravagant lifestyles? Someone has to pay the debt, and unpaid debt has always been passed onto the next generation.
It is time to ask God to help us to learn to live below our means, by knowing the difference between our ‘wants’ and our ‘needs’, while we trust Him anew for supplying our daily bread and delivering us from all the evil that rages around us.
“There is no dignity quite so impressive, and no one independence quite so important, as living within your means.”
Calvin Coolidge