2 Kings 4 (KJV)
1 Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.
2 And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.
3 Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.
4 And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.
5 So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out.
6 And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.
7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.
One of the most important aspects of the kingdom of God is to be free from debt; not only individually, but if you're a family or even a nation. Debt brings bondage. When creditors come to take what you own in order to pay the debt owed, it is a humiliating and devastating experience for most.
This happens because when we're in debt, a time can come when the income we had may dry up from losing a job, an accident, or prolonged sickness, among other events. When that happens, there is no longer the revenue coming in to pay what you owe.
Other times there may be enough to pay what is owed, but is only enough to live on, with nothing beyond that. This can produce a sense of helplessness and harden our hearts.
I can't even remember the last time I had any debt, as I've been debt-free for years. During that time I've had the experience of being laid off and been injured on a job. If there had been debt in our lives, it would have been a crushing experience, as there would have been no way to pay it off.
The obvious lessen is don't go into debt. And if you are in debt, the top financial strategy should be to pay it down as quickly as possible, as the prophet told the woman in the scripture above.
Having little or no debt is exhilarating in its freedom, as it gives an individual or family a lot more options in their lives. If there is large debt, the only option is to continue to live from paycheck to paycheck in order to pay it down.
I know this produces questions, such as shouldn't people have debt in order to build up their credit. The answer of course is the only reason you want to build up your credit is in order to go into debt. But I know what you mean.
What are we to do to protect ourselves against unforeseen circumstances that require money to handle? The answer to me is to have a small store credit card you have a little debt on. Occasionally buy something you need with it, and pay it down immediately; and never be late on it.
From there you could apply for a credit card you do something similar with. Buy a low-cost item, and when you receive the bill, immediately pay it off. Over time you should be offered a bump in available credit, which should be enough to cover most financial situations you face.
That said, this is only a stop-gap measure. It only should be used until you save up enough money to handle financial emergencies.
There are different views on the subject, but I like to keep a minimum of revenue in the bank to pay three months of our bills, and usually have about 6 months worth. It occasionally changes because I in fact have to sometimes use the money for what it's there for. When that happens, I simply replenish it.
The point is the credit strategy is only for an emergency fund until you build up your capital. Once you have that in place, there shouldn't be any reason to use the card any more, other than in the same way already mentioned.
If you don't have the discipline to not spend on your credit card, just get rid of it when you have money in the bank to handle emergency situations.
This is part of ruling and reigning in this life. We must rule and reign in our own lives before being able to help others do the same. Being debt-free is one of the ways to do that.
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