“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1 John 2:16)
If you need a different vehicle, not want but definitely need one to replace the one you have which is ready for the junk pile, and you go to the car dealership, can you do so with Proverbs 22:7 in mind. “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” If not, do you believe you have succumbed to the first two items in our opening verse, the lust of the flesh and the eyes?
By signing on that dotted line that says you will make payments for the next few years, have you presumed upon the mercies of God to keep you alive for those years, to allow you to continue in your employment field? Have you sinned by spending what you do not have but hope to? I ask you if you are in debt of any kind, are you a slave to the borrower, after all, that item you say is yours is not really yours, is it, it does not belong to you.
When on the jobsite and a fellow employee would pull up in a new vehicle, I would almost always ask them, as they stood there proudly, and in the sin of pride by the way, if it was their vehicle or the banks? It was always a way to end the conversation quickly and garner towards me some nasty looks.
It takes very little effort to live beyond our means, simply click the button on the computer, write a check, put your card in the slot and slide it through, and you can fulfill your every desire. Then you can search for spare change at the end of the week to purchase a liter of milk.
Most people, and many of them Christians, do not live paycheck to paycheck, they live in a future where, when they arrive there, those items they thought they just had to have become useless, worn down or broken, and they still owe six months’ worth of payments.
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Lust and pride, these are the ways of the world, not patience, not doing with what you can afford today, but what you believe you will be able to pay off over time, and I personally do not see it as honoring to the Lord. But in all honesty, I do not believe it bothers most Christians very much, in fact, they do not think of themselves as slaves to the world, but they do not curtail their spending habits as if they are slaves to Christ. Look at the parking lot of any Evangelical church on Sunday morning and ask yourself, are the people in that building that wealthy or that much in debt?
“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.” (Romans 13:8)
Now, ask yourself this, does it bother God that you are in debt, that you did not have the patience to wait on Him, or to trust that what you have is all that you need at the moment. By the looks of most of those parking lots, I would say the answer would be no, they do not consider the Lord when they sign on that line.
I personally see no problem with using credit cards if the money is in your possession for what you are purchasing with them, but that is just my opinion. I am old enough to remember that there was only two ways to pay for something, a check, or cash, and I also remember what my grandfather used to say, “If you have the money in your pocket, you can afford it, if you don’t, you can’t.”
I am not here to make up your mind in this area, I am no more than a messenger, the message is clear and comes from the Lord, if you are financially beholden to someone, then you are that person’s slave, what you believe yourself to own does not belong to you, it is their possession.
Here is what you have to think before you sign on that dotted line, is this something that I could wait for, am I being impatient, do I really want to put myself in bondage for this thing? Is it lust or a need, because if it is a need than you need to consider Philippians 4:19, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”