Should you go into debt?  Romans 13:8a “Owe no one anything except to love one another.”  There are several problems with debt. 

First, by going into debt, you are assuming that you will be able to pay back the loan.  This presumes upon the future.  You don’t know what the future will hold.  James 4:13-16 “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.  Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’  But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.”  Since you don’t know what is in the future, you may not be able to pay back the loan; you should not boast that you will repay the loan.

Second, you make yourself a servant to the lender.  Proverbs 22:7 “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.”  When you borrow, you are obligated to the lender to pay them back.  You are not free as you were before.  Many people can attest to the fact that a loan can be a great burden.  1 Corinthians 7:23 “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.”  You should not want to become a slave to a lender but instead you should want to be free to be a servant to Christ.

Some people go into debt not for necessities, but for things they desire.  The Apostle John told us not to love the things of the world.  1 John 2:15-16 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world.”  Debt may be a result of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and pride.

God is the one who blesses and supplies your needs and abilities.  1 Peter 4:11 “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”  I encourage you to seek the leading of the Lord in making your decisions.  If He has not blessed you with the ability or the resources to pay for something, going into debt may be going against His leading.

You do have a debt that you owe.  That is the debt of love.  Romans 13:8-10 “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.  For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’   Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” 

I encourage you to not go into financial debt if you can avoid it.  If you are in debt now, I encourage you to work to free yourself from that debt as soon as you can.  Realize that you do have a debt to love others.  Love fulfills the law and pleases your Father in heaven.