What’s Your Debt Load?
Jack Radcliffe
8/14/2010

The other day I heard a startling statistic: the average household is saddled by $9,000.00 worth of credit card debt. It probably shouldn’t be too surprising given the enormity of our national debt, but multiply it by the number of households in your city alone and the total will make you swallow hard. Many of you reading this would love to see your debt at only 9,000.00. We’re told we’ve gotten ourselves in this mess for several reasons: we live beyond our means, borrowing to get what we want now (otherwise known as premature lifestyle upgrade), unexpected expenses hit, and we aren’t good at saving.

At the core of it all is this reality: we can’t seem to say no to ourselves. True, some of us are in debt through no real fault of our own: loss of employment, major illness, etc. Most of us, though, know both the stress and damage that debt brings and the guilt of selfishness that brought it on.

The Bible gives us an interesting picture of not only what God thinks about debt but his approach to handling it. Reading Deuteronomy 15, one gets the idea that while it is a bad thing, there will always be people in debt. Someone is always going to owe someone else something.

Debt is not only a financial burden; it’s also an emotional and relational hardship. People spiral into depression over it, and marriages and friendships end because of it. In order to free people from the consequences of debt, God instructed Israel to “cancel the debts of everyone who owes you money” (Deuteronomy 15:1, NLT) at the end of every seven years. The Israelites called it the year of Jubilee.

The writer of Deuteronomy takes things a step further. Not only are debts to be cancelled every seven years, but the poor should be treated with generosity and loaned money, even if Jubilee is soon (Deuteronomy 15:7-9). It is a sin to not share freely with those in need. Generosity is part of God’s nature, and he wants it to be part of ours.

Sharing money, possessions, time, and Jesus with those in need requires a shift in attitude from taking to giving, and from excessive spending to getting out of debt to free up resources—unfortunately, we don’t celebrate the year of Jubilee. If this seems like a bit much to ask, think about this: we are in spiritual debt to God. We’re made to love and honor God with our words, actions and choices, and when we fail, our debt—not giving what we owe—grows.

In his generosity, God wiped out the current and future spiritual debt for those of us who receive his grace. Jesus’ death and resurrection was our spiritual jubilee. He made up for our lack of love, honor, and obedience with his and offered it to God. God accepted it, freeing us from being selfish takers and making us loving givers like him. According to Romans 13:8, it’s the one debt we’ll never pay off. May you choose to enjoy making the payments.

Jack Radcliffe is a husband and father of four, a Life and Parent Coach (www.redwoodcoach.com), a seminar presenter for Parenteen (www.parenteen.com), a ministry consultant with Youth Ministry Architects in Nashville, TN, and an adjunct professor at Martin Methodist College. He has an MDiv from Ashland Theological Seminary in Ohio and a DMin in Practical Theology, Adolescent Development and Culture from Fuller Theological Seminary.