Debt Free

November 2022

Dear Friends

“Owe no-one anything” says the Apostle Paul.  He cannot mean it is always wrong to borrow because Jesus says not to “turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you”, but he is saying it is good to pay what you owe.  We know how we feel when someone fails to repay what we lent them, but we also know that anyone can get caught in a debt trap – illness, redundancy, divorce, inflation and a thousand other things can suddenly leave us unable to pay what we’ve promised.  God commanded the nation of Israel to have compassion for the debtor while making it possible for them to repay what they owe.  If the economic predictions are right we are going to need lots of that wisdom in the months ahead.

A number of churches in this area, including our village churches, have provided the resources for a CAP Debt Centre in Kendal: www.kendaldebtcentre.org   This is up and running and providing free help for people in Kendal.  We now want to find a way to offer the same help here in our villages because it is not just needed in our big towns.  The Debt Centre do not give money; they give compassionate and practical long-term support, handling all the communications with banks and other lenders, while their clients gradually set themselves free from debt. 

“The borrower is the slave of the lender” says the Bible.  That’s very true, we are not free when we owe money.  It’s always best not to get into debt with anyone, and it’s good when people become debt free.  Our government recently discovered how little freedom they had to do what they thought was right while our nation still owes so much - £2.4 trillion at the last count of national debt, or £35,000 for every man, woman and child.  We are slaves to the lenders.

One more Bible comment about a mountain of a different kind of debt that we owe God because of our disregard of his laws.  We cannot clear this but God has himself paid the price to cancel “the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.  This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”  That’s true and glorious debt freedom.  Apply now!

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

Bible references: Romans 13:8, Matthew 5:42, Proverbs 22:7, Colossians 2:13-14