Recently I have gotten into the habit of listening to Dave Ramsey’s podcast while I’m out for my late afternoon run. I’ve always enjoyed Mr. Ramsey’s material (books, website, etc.) but had never gotten into a routine of listening to his podcast. The vast majority of his program on any given day is taking phone calls from folks who either are in dire financial straits or have recently worked their way out of financial straits and want to share their success story.
It’s amazing to listen to some of these people’s stories and hear of just how deep into debt they have gotten. Some tens of thousands of dollars. Some hundreds of thousands of dollars. Yet most either have or are honestly working toward settling that debt as soon as possible. That’s why a particular call the other day left me shaking my head.
This lady called in and started telling Mr. Ramsey their tale of woe. They were a few tens of thousands of dollars into debt ($20,000 or $30,000, maybe $40,000) with car notes, credit card debt, etc. (not including their mortgage). However, into the conversation she revealed that her husband’s annual income was around $180,000. But this was her question: “Should we just go ahead and file for bankruptcy?” Seriously!?
I’m not trying to minimize the depth of trouble these people were in. That amount of debt is nothing to shake a stick at. But with his amount of income Mr. Ramsey pointed out that it was simply a matter of a few lifestyle changes and hard decisions keeping them from being debt free and forging their own financial futures.
This story, and others I’ve heard since listening to his program, has confirmed to me a harsh reality that we’ve got to change socially. There are far too many people in this world (and particularly in our country) that are looking for the easy way out of every difficult situation in which they’ve found themselves. They love the lifestyle they get to live while getting into debt; the cars, the clothes, the gadgets, etc. But when it comes time to pay for it all they want to skip out on their obligations and leave the pain with someone else (i.e., the person that is owed).
There is one verse in the Bible (and it only takes one) that condemns this type of attitude toward life. Romans 13:8 says: “Owe no many anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.” As evidenced from other passages through the Bible Paul isn’t outrightly condemning debt. However, the perpetuation of debt (particularly to the extent of never intending to repay that debt) is dishonest to the core and very telling of the guilty party.
There are some things in life that will only be accomplished by sacrifice and hard work. God guaranteed that in His curse to Adam upon all mankind (Genesis 3:17-19). The foundation of our society has crumbled all around us and I cannot help but think that so much of our social failures can be attributed to the fact that many people (not all, or even most, but many) are looking for the easy way out.
-Andy Brewer