Proverbs 22:7
The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.
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Someone was commenting on the deal they got on a new car because of “good financing”. Instead of minding my own business I let them know I think the term “good financing” is an oxymoron. How can anything that makes us a slave to another be “good”?
It is so easy to go into debt to demonstrate our love, or meet a “need” we feel we have, to comfort ourselves, pass time shopping, etc. Before we do however, it is wise to invest some time meditating on the warning of Proverbs 22:7.
Why is it we can afford to make a monthly car payment but we can’t afford to put a dime into savings. If you will just drive that old car for a few more years and make that astronomical car payment to yourself (put it in the bank each month), in about 4 years you will be able to buy your next car with cash. Continue to make the car payment to yourself and, wow, just a four year delay of gratification and you will be able to buy cars with cash for the rest of your life.
“But my car needs expensive repairs.” Even the most costly repairs are usually less than a one month car payment. And what is going to happen to that car if you trade it in? Someone is going to make the repairs and happily drive that car for many more years. Why shouldn’t that be you?
The cheapest car you will ever own is the one you have right now.
So how do you stop a charging elephant? You take away his credit card.
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The fact that many of us (Christians) are called poor is not our disgrace, but our glory. Yet who can be poor if he does not want, if he does not crave possessions? Rather, he is poor who, having much, craves still more.
A traveler is happier the lighter the load, Likewise, we are happier on this journey of life when we walk in poverty, rather than groaning under the heavy burden of riches.
If we thought that wealth were useful for us we would ask for it from God and he could distribute some of it to us if he wanted. But we would rather despise riches than strive for them. We would rather possess innocence than wealth and to ask God for patience rather than riches.
– from “Octavius” (a defense of Christianity written in the second century)
Read the entire work at: www.earlychristianwritings.com
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