The Rich Rules Over The Poor And The Borrower Is Servant To The Lender

From: The Potential Millionaire By Felix A. Montelara, Author Potencial Millonario

In episode 3 of my radio program, Potencial Millonario, I began a discussion on debt.  Debt is a very big topic, and deserves more time than just one episode.  In episode 3 I talked about how a person cannot become financially free until they get out of debt, and a person cannot get out of debt until they stop creating debt.  This means that a person must stop spending money they do not really have.  The cycle of spending and borrowing must be stopped.  I discussed credit card use with several emails from fans, and explained that I don’t like credit cards because they encourage us to spend money we don’t have.  When we continue to spend what we don’t have, we get buried in debt.  I recommend using debit cards, as they only allow us to spend what we have.  If we don’t have it, we shouldn’t spend it.

What does the Bible tell us about debt?  Proverbs 22:7 says, “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.”  This verse very accurately describes what I discussed in episode 3.  First, let’s be clear that most true millionaires do not have personal debt.  Before a person can become rich, they have to become debt-free.  Once a person is debt-free, their savings begins to grow and they become financially free.  The poor generally carry numerous debts, and so can never gain financial freedom because they are held back by their debts.

Proverbs 22:7 states, “the borrower is servant to the lender,” and I couldn’t agree more.  Credit cards are a harsh master, and any mistake that we make, such as a late payment, results in stiff penalties like fees and interest rate hikes.  Have you read your credit card statement carefully?  By paying the minimum payment you will remain in debt for years, and this is just another form of servitude.  When the fees and interest are compounded on credit cards and other debts, the result is that the consumer pays several times what they actually borrowed.  This goes for most loans, from student loans, to mortgages, to car loans.  Therefore, debt is a way of committing yourself to years of service paying someone else.  Why not cut up those credit cards, stop spending, and start paying yourself?