This article is about money, indebtedness, and forgiveness.
According to the Bible, the desire for money is the root of all evil.
This desire for money has been around since the creation of man who found that certain entities could be used to buy and sell commodities and services to sustain life and livelihood.
Even though money is useful, it ultimately started competition between men--there were always those who by their cleverness and thrifty ways always had money.
Then there were those, despite their talents, education, and background never had any money.
Thus, they became indebted to others.
The Bible also speaks of those who are indebted to others.
Recall the story of the taskmaster, who forgave his slave for his indebtedness and relieved him from repaying the debt owed to him.
The slave went out and contacted his debtor and abused him, threw him in jail until he paid him every cent.
The taskmaster heard this and summoned the slave and reminded him that he had been forgiven every cent.
The taskmaster had him thrown in jail until he repaid every cent owed to him.
Indebtedness is the misuse of money either intentionally or unintentionally.
The misuse of money means the buying of products or services, if needed or not, despite the cost.
Today's society makes this possible with the unrestrained use of credit cards.
The impulsive swiping of credit cards in the store or online is at an all-time high.
The thought is "we want this now whether we can afford it or not.
" Paying next months bill comes along way too fast and many are faced to make just the minimum payment or no payment at all.
Indebtedness quickly becomes a "no return" to the creditors.
Our economy and the increased cost of living unintentionally puts others through a set of circumstances that is not their fault.
They have lost their job due to downsizing or laid off, they have become disabled due to a serious accident or illness and cannot afford the hospital bills.
They find themselves highly in debt and cannot feed their families or no longer can afford the mortgage on their home.
Eventually they go through their savings, 401s, retirement funds, annuities, etc.
, just to survive.
Without help, they often become homeless with the foreclosure of their home.
This is the economy we're living in.
The current statute on debt is seven years (varies by state).
This means the individual is unable to buy anything on credit to sustain their standard of living.
This severely limits their buying power because they have exhausted their resources they saved for a rainy day.
Consequently, their credit rating plunges.
People who have credit card debt can get out of debt on their own by consulting a debt consolidation company.
But, before doing so, some people can get out of debt on their own by making radical changes to their way of living.
This takes a firm resolve on their part.
Here are a few tips to begin decreasing your debt: Destroy credit cards with high balances or high interest rates.
High interest is over 8%.
Stop buying things you really don't need.
Pay cash only.
Live simply.
Change your way of life.
Look for a second job to supplement your income.
Realize that jobs are scarce.
Do anything for cash.
Contact credit card companies to try to reduce interest rates or the monthly payments.
As a last result, consult a debt consolidation company for help.
All these companies are not alike and you may have to pay fees to reduce your debts.
Read their contract carefully before signing it.
Being in debt is easy to get into, but hard to get out of.
Make every effort to buy with cash or fulfill the balance when invoiced, so you will never find yourself in debt.