Listen to Proverbs 22:7, the borrower becomes the lender’s slave. How many of you have experienced the truth of that? Early in my marriage, Virginia and I got in our first major argument over a car. I had it in my little brain since I was a teenager that I would finally have arrived if I owned a Chevrolet Monte Carlo. It came time to buy a car, but she didn’t have the same love affair with that car as I did. We could not afford it, and I rationalized how we could make it work. “I’m getting a raise in January. I can cut back on some things like golf.” Over her objections I bought the Monte Carlo. I was proud. It was beautiful. I looked so good driving it. Then I discovered the insurance was higher than for any of my other cars, and gas cost more. I struggled to pay for it. Every month I had to juggle things around to make it work. It was a worry source for me and a sore spot in our marriage. It dawned on me one day that I didn’t own the car. The car owned me. Some of you know how that feels. You may have a beautiful home, but it stretches you every month. It owns you. Too many of our money problems and stressors are because we have chosen to live artificially beyond our means. Too many have bought the cultural lie that you are what you own, drive, or where you live, and debt consumes you. Belong to Jesus and not the bank.
– Dr. Tim Thompson