We are a world in debt. Across the globe, someone owes someone else large amounts of money, and the numbers are staggering. Some of us will remember that in 2017 Greece faced bankruptcy fueled by a ballooning national debt. It was rescued by a last minute extension of credit for ten years in June 2018, which means that by 2028, the problem once staved will return in full force. In 2024, Sri Lanka went into economic crisis as it started defaulting on its payment of national debt. Joblessness was rampant; riots could not be quelled; people lost homes and livelihoods overnight. It was only a significantly large emergency loan from India (yes, more debt) that helped the Sri Lankan economy avert disaster, allowing some stabilization to take place. But everyone is treading carefully. In recent reports, looming on the economic horizon is Japan’s burgeoning external debt that currently exceeds the size of its economy by more than 200%. In other words, Japan makes half of what it owes, and the debt is continuing to increase. The situation is dire as lenders flee from handing more money to Japan, and national spending is not abating because of an aging population and a growing need for social welfare. To make things worse, the world is watching carefully as huge amounts of money that China has lent out to numerous developing nations in Africa and Asia are due within 2025. With the war on tariffs currently affecting the Chinese economy, calling in the loans would help to stabilize its own house. But the destabilization of already-impoverished economies would send the world into a tailspin.
As I consider these things, I am well aware of what Jesus said to us regarding the struggle that the soul has in our relationship with God when money rules the heart. “You can serve money or God, but not both” (Matthew 6:24). Someone once observed, “No one thinks about being a slave to money until he is a slave to debt.” How true. Debt consumes us with worry; it absorbs our resources of time; it forces us to make choices between paying the bills and finding time for God and for family. Strangely, the pressure of debt causes some to need some reprieve by resorting to addictions and activities that generate more debt. I used to laugh at a bumper sticker that read, “I owe, I owe, so off to work I go.” I no longer laugh at it. The reality of distress that debt causes tears apart people and families, much less companies and countries. Paul says to us, “Owe no one anything except the debt of love” (Romans 13:8). The counsel is to live a life free of the bondage that threatens our relationship with God and with others. Sadly, Canada reports a dangerously significant consumer debt burden (that is, debt owed by the individual) of $2.56 trillion in 2024. Statistics Canada commented, “It is a debt level that over-exposes us even to minor economic instability. Someone has to draw the line.” Let’s govern our lives with wisdom. Stop borrowing. Live within your means. Give to God what is due to God instead of withholding what is due to Him because of the debts that we owe. Bring the first fruits of your labour into the house of God rather than having creditors skim your money right off the top. We cannot serve both debt and God. Choose well. Choose God.
Just Church
At Just Church, we call each person to live free from the world’s vices and in the freedom and the power of Christ. If you struggle with the problem of debt, let’s have a conversation. Perhaps we can find a way out by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit so that you can live free of the influences of debt. “The vision of Just Church is to establish a church in just the way Christ called the church to be – true to His Word, loving Him, loving one another, and loving the lost.”
