Where You Are Now

This horse has been beaten to death, I know, but I must continue talking about debt. It is such a huge problem in our culture today and I am afraid that it is only going to get worse as the years go by.

Even after the global economy going into a recession, and even after millions of families having to foreclose on their homes, the vast majority of people will still be dependent on credit cards and other loans in order to meet the expenses that are associated with living life.

That’s right, living life. Paying the bills, putting food on the table, gas in the car, and even taking vacations. I know that you already know what my advice is but I have to give it to you anyway: do not rely on debt. Do not use debt. Do not get into debt. And if you are in debt get OUT as quickly as possible; especially if the debt is credit card debt.

If you have credit card debt, if you carry a balance on ANY of your credit cards, the best way to deal with that debt is to CUT THE CARD! Do not leave the card intact and available for use, because all that does is keep you deeper in debt and farther from getting out of debt. Cut up any and all cards that carry a balance and focus solely on paying them off! I outline the steps you can take, after cutting up your card, here.

“The borrower is servant to the lender” – Proverbs 22:7

Not only is debt a hole that some folks never get out off, but it is a hole that some folks don’t want to get out of. They get comfortable in their debt and believe that it is a part of life, a natural occurance that is inevitable. This is a lie and they are doing nothing but hurting themselves.

The verse above, Proverbs 22:7, is a verse that I absolutely love. It is a painfully true statement. I talk here about how I was indebted to my father in-law and how I wanted nothing but to get out of that debt! It had nothing to do with the fact that he was my father in-law or that he was using the debt against me. Debt chains you down, it does not give you the freedom to do as you please. In the article linked above, I mention that while indebted to my father in-law it would have been foolish of me to make any large purchases, and if I would have, I would have given my father in-law, my lender, every right to be upset with me. And while some will argue that it would not be his place, I would have made it his place because I was indebted to him, I was his servant.

When you are not indebted to someone, or some company, you have a freedom that comes only when you are free from the burden of debt. You can spend as you wish, save as you wish, and do anything you would like without having to answer to anyone. Essentially.

Please, do yourself a favor, stop spending yourself further into debt. Get serious about getting out of debt. You will not regret the decision to make sacrifices now so that you won’t have to in the future. In the word’s of Dave Ramsey: “Live like no one else [today], so later you can live like no one else.”

Tags: Borrower, credit card, Dave Ramsey, Debt, Loan, Personal Finance, Recession

This entry was posted on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 8:23 am and is filed under Debt, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.