A woman in my Bible study class this morning asked the rest of us, "Do you think it's a sin that several of my children are living together without being married?" We gave her our thoughts, trying to comfort her, and I was reminded of my blog on June 5, 2014: "Mud, #2: Sexual." My opinion is that the young people (or folks of any age) don't deliberately "sin," that a serious sin is a conscious, deliberate choice to do an action knowing it is wrong. The young people live in a culture that daily, 24/7, bombards them with evidence that not only does "everybody" live together before marriage, but that "it is the right thing to do." After all, a young woman once told me, "I want to know if the guy snores, doesn't pick up his dirty clothes, has lots of bad habits."
This blog on May 19, 2014 focused on "Mud, #1: Wants." This explored how the advertisers of our products have morphed "wants" into "needs." The atmosphere of our culture tells us that we must satisfy our every want!
Today I'd like to propose that we ALL live in a culture of "financial MUD," in other words, we constantly get messages that we should get whatever we want, however much we owe is irrelevant. We can hardly venture through the streets of any business district without passing many lending institutions. They will give us advances on our paychecks. Loan institutions are everywhere. How many credit card applications have you received in the mail or online in the last month? TV ads are relentless! What's in your wallet?
It's very hard to not be affected by all the credit available. So many bankruptcies, so many home foreclosures! Every one tells of a family devastated by buying too much, living beyond their means. I'm not pointing my finger at you, if you are in this situation, I've had to climb out of it several times myself. It's not easy to hope no one gets sick or nothing goes wrong with the car knowing you'll be in trouble trying to pay your bills.
My dear brother, Steve, may he rest in peace, was doing well financially, had a great job, got way in debt on a new house, but did fine until he got sick and was diagnosed with leukemia. Steve lost his job, lost his medical benefits, and applied for his V.A. benefits. It was one year before he was able to see a V.A. doctor. Meanwhile, he was hospitalized, at his own expense, several times for six weeks each time, and had loans for over $100,000 for medical bills.
I must praise Steve's bank in Wisconsin. They did not immediately foreclose on Steve's house. Some of us family paid some of his house payments but this was too much for all of us. Steve died after fighting leukemia for 2 1/2 years. He was able to stay in the house till his death. Then his widow, Pam, may she rest in peace, was able to stay there for four more months, selling everything she could of their possessions, then moving into a trailer on welfare just before the bank auctioned the house and lot. How tragic!
Years ago, one of my bosses lost her job because she wrote two bad checks for things her sons wanted. She also lost her fine house. Over the years, I've known many a family who can't say, "NO!" to their children for anything.
If we're aware of this financial MUD, the rotten culture of buy, buy, buy that we live in, perhaps we can convince ourselves to live within our means!
Dear Lord, help us be reasonable, live simply, and not give in to pressures from our culture or our families to buy what we can't afford!
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