“Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another” (Romans 13:8a, NLT). Debt can be a crushing burden hampering every area of one’s life. Both OT and NT caution against it. It can become a form of slavery. In our day it is too often entered into because of greed driven consumerism. It is the culture we breathe. We are invited to it by a thousand commercials a day. It is not easy to live with budgets and discipline, thrift and simplicity as a lifestyle, but it is best. Without debt we can better use our labor to share with those in need (Ephesians 4:28). Generosity is much more freeing than debt.
From “The Master’s Table”, by H. Lamar Smith
