Step 1: Identify Your #1 Motive for Getting Out of Debt.
Gary North
Why have you come to this website? What is your motivation? Until you get this clear in your mind, you are likely to make serious mistakes, even when you are trying to improve your situation.
The are causes, and there are symptoms. Let's look at some symptoms. Click the Play arrow. (Note: This site offers a much better solution than the one suggested here.)
Humor helps. But your reality may be grim.
Steve Rhode runs a website, www.GetOutOfDebt.org. It is quite good. He offers a free book for downloading: Eliminate Your Debt Like a Pro. In chapter 1, he lists seven stages of debt. The first five are five stages people go through upon learning of their imminent death. They were discovered by Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.
I don't know where you are on this list. I hope you are at stage 5 if you are here to be helped. I hope you are at stage 7 if you are here to help.
THE TWO PRIMARY MOTIVATIONS
In marketing, there are two primary motivational approaches: the appeal to a person's greed or his fear. Both of these strategies are opposed to what the Bible teaches. On the one hand, God-fearing people are not supposed to be greedy. On the other hand, God-fearing people are not supposed to be afraid.
Let's talk about greed. Maybe you want something: a lifestyle that you cannot afford. You tried to get it through debt. This has backfired on you.
If you have a positive goal that is service-oriented, substitute this for greed. Maybe you want greater geographical mobility. Your debt hampers your mobility. There is no doubt that a positive specific goal (becoming a foreign missionary in five years) is better than a vague negative goal (getting debt-free sometime). This motivational fact is well known in self-help circles. Read about it here.
Let's talk about fear. Is it justified?
You live in a rich nation. You possess a level of prosperity that is considered beyond most people's wildest imaginations. Billions of people live in total poverty. Even if you were to declare bankruptcy, you would be in far better shape than the vast majority of people who were alive today, let alone the vast majority of people who have ever lived.
Think about the suffering that people have endured down through the ages. They never dreamed that such prosperity as you enjoy would be possible. So, even if you are facing bankruptcy, get a grip on your emotions.
If you cannot do this, you may need spiritual counseling from a professional. If you can't afford a professional, go to a deacon in your church who has had experience with helping people in financial matters.
If you have gotten yourself into a situation in which you are afraid, you must begin to get yourself out of that situation. This motivation should not be based on fear. It should also not be based on your fear of embarrassment, or your fear of the eviction from your house, or your fear of having to declare bankruptcy. In most cases, you can avoid all of these threats. But even if you can't, you will be in a position to restore your good name and your credit if you follow the principles and strategies that you find on this website.
Having said that, I want you to understand that you have fallen into sin. Let's not fool around with nomenclature. You are in sin. The fact that you are afraid indicates that you are in sin. The fact that you are afraid because of your financial situation indicates that you got yourself into a financial bind, and this has produced a sinful reaction in your life.
So, your prime motivation should be to get out of sin. Success here will help you reduce your fear, but don't aim at the symptom; aim at the problem. The problem is not that you are afraid; the problem is that you are in sin.
If you are not willing to admit this, you probably will not be able to get a great deal of benefit from this website. I want you to benefit from it. So, I want you to face the reality of your situation.
You have fallen into patterns of behavior that have gotten you into a financial bind, and your financial bind has produced worry. If you are worried, you have to do two things. The first thing you have to do is to come to grips with the sin of worry. The second thing you have to do is to come to grips with the financial mismanagement that has led you into this condition.
If you really think you are not in sin, because of special circumstances, such as a lack of medical insurance combined with a major hospital expense, you still should not be afraid. I will do what I can to help you solve the problem of your indebtedness, but your fear is beyond my professional ability to deal with. You may need spiritual counseling. You may need to make a vow to God promising but you will do your best not to be afraid if he will intervene in this situation and deliver you from debt. That is a legitimate goal, but you had better fulfill the terms that you set for yourself if you make such a vow.
This site presents a comprehensive strategy for getting out of debt. There is a great deal of material on this site for you to consider. Furthermore, after you are out of debt, there is information on this site that will help you deal with capital over the remainder of your life. You will be able to leave a good inheritance to your children. This site is not strictly defensive. But it begins with defense, because you are in a situation in which defensive strategies are appropriate.
God has not led you into the wilderness for no reason. You have wandered into the wilderness, and if you want to get out of the wilderness, God has made available a pathway for you. I hope that this site will show you where that pathway is.
YOUR FIRST STEP
Your first step today is to face reality of your sin. Ask God for forgiveness for your greed or your worry or both. Ask God to forgive you for your lack of budgeting and good sense with respect to debt. Admit that you have done the wrong thing, and that it is not simply a matter of ignorance, but that it is a matter of conscious sin on your part. You have spent yourself into a crisis. Nobody else did it for you.
In the rare case where you can legitimately blame your spouse, there is even less reason for you to worry. God will deal with your spouse. You happen to be married to the person, and you may go through a lot of pain because of it, but at some point, God will deal with your spendthrift spouse. He may deal with your spouse through a bankruptcy court, but he will deal with your spouse. The problem will be solved at some point.
Continue to go through the materials on this site. But do so on this basis: when you find something that applies to your situation, implement it.
This site should not be treated the way that overweight people read diet books. They read diet books while munching on bean dip and chips.
You are going to have to make fundamental changes in your behavior if you're going to get yourself out of the jam that you've gotten yourself into. You must be ready to do this, not on the basis of fear, but on the basis of your self-awareness that you have fallen into sin, and you need God's deliverance to get you out of your sinful condition.
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