Credit Crunch:Reason Behind it, and How to Live a Debt-Free Life

Credit crunch whose effects are like rain—falls on all roofs, is believed by economic and financial historians to be the worst economic crisis since the great depression which started in 1929, and continued through the early 1930s. This devastating crisis has prompted many to take their life; some have seen all their wealth disappeared within a twinkle of an eye; companies—both new and old have gone bankrupt; hundreds of thousands of employees have been rendered jobless; and many people could no longer acquire credit easily, especially in the developed countries. The worst still, is the experts’ inability to say for certain, the duration of the crisis—even if they do, how could they be trusted, if all their pronouncements so far have been baseless speculations.

The current world economic predicament that started in America in 2007 propagated easily throughout the four corners of the globe due to liberalisation, which makes borderless financial and economic transaction easier, and faster. The fathers of liberalisation never foresaw that misfortune such as this could spread beyond borders; if at all they did; precautionary measures were never put in place.

 Being too concerned with the crisis and on how long it will last may not only distract us from looking for a solution, but it might also render many people depressive. Thus, we have to concentrate our effort on how to live happily in spite of it, and for those that are almost strangled by debt, how they could extricate themselves from it. First, let us trace the ultimate cause of the crisis, which the Experts attribute to the collapse of the American Real Estate market. This is not the root cause, but the fruit of the ills of our society: falsehood, hypocrisy, pretention, corruption, egocentricity, etc. If the Experts disagree with me, I have some questions for them: why didn’t the actors in the market give an accurate evaluation of the market value? Why didn’t the buyers cut their coat according to their size? Does it mean that the related authorities were ignorant of the situation; if they were aware, why didn’t they intervene early, and decisively? On answering these questions, it would be exposed that the Experts’ are either ignorant or hypocritical of the real origin of the crisis.  The system of the developed world is rooted in debts. Our governments, service, and manufacturing sectors all directly or indirectly speak the same language, and share the same philosophy—they preach, encourage, and entice us to consume. The key word of all mass media is buy, buy, buy!  The daily and periodic newspapers, magazines, most of the television programs, are full of enticements to buy one thing or the other—even our e-mail boxes are flooded with junk mails whose objective is to sale. The policy or philosophy to consume is crown by the innumerable credit cards spreading, and more are coming out each day. The idea behind these cards is “Buy today, but pay tomorrow”. The implicit appeal here is, “Live in debts”. The situation is becoming very alarming. In the 1970s and 1980s when I grew-up, this was almost nonexistent, but now, credit cards are even given to students without income, and the jobless. The plot to drown the population in debts is so successful because marketing psychologists plays on human weaknesses—need for acceptance, significance, and security. We have these needs because of the absence of God in our lives; thus that emptiness seeks to be filled. Humans were created to worship and adore God; doing so draws us closer to God and that gives us joy, and happiness. Unfortunately, with our disobedience, we deprive ourselves from these life’s necessities that we suppose to possess. This creates the void, which most people try to fill with the need for “Acceptance—attached to appearance, and admiration; significance: depicted by attaching much importance to performance, and accomplishment; security—seeks to be adored, status, and recognition. The problem with the just-mentioned three illusionary hiding factors is that they are time bound. In other words, the achievement of any or all of them is transitory. However, it has to be pointed out that, the intensity of the urge for the three above-mentioned ingredients is dependent on the individual’s childhood experience. Most of those that were brought up in a loving, caring and God centred family, are very likely to have lesser urge for acceptance, significance, and security, because as a child, he or she was shown love, acceptance, and they were made to realise how valuable they are before God, and that He created them in His image. As the person grow-up developing the values implanted into his or her mind by the parents, the need for those three elements are completely replaced by the Spirit of God in them, who makes them to realise whom they are, is through God’s grace, love, mercy, and faithfulness, and His presence in their life, and not by any feeling, desires, or emotions. Nevertheless, in spite of your childhood experience or your present situation or condition, if you make God the centre of everything you do, or of your possessions, he will prosper you, thereby giving you joy and happiness, for He is ready to accept you unconditionally. On the other hand, if you refuse to allow God to control your life, you’re very likely to strive to acquire all that you can, by any means, to fill the emptiness in you, and the obtained objects, quite often, become your gods. The bad news is that there is no satisfaction in human desire, because our wants are limitless. Thus, your desires multiply as they’re being met. Boundless wants and the innate need to fill the absence of God in one’s life impel people to be easily influenced by the marketing psychological plots to allure them to continuously swim in debts, whatever the price, because they use the goods or services purchased by those debts for a fruitless attempt to satisfy the emptiness in them. Regrettably, without the fear and knowledge of God, they fail to realise that, none of their wants can ever replace Him in their lives.Our government, services and the industrial sectors, and the society as a whole encourage the worship of materialism. They do this by characterising, describing, or valuing people based on their material possessions, and not by their God-given value. God created each of us with an unimaginable value, and with priceless significance. How to live a debt-free life 

How can we live a debt-free life? First if you’re already engulfed by this generally encouraged evil, you have to re-assess your needs and wants. As most of your wants are not necessities, it’s advisable to forego them, even those that you’re already enjoying. You’ll cut off almost all the unnecessary expenses, thereby using the cut-off money to settle some of the debts. I quite understand that this is easier said than done. Hence, you’ll need a strong will and a burning desire to be debt-free, to take this action, more so, if you’ve been used to those products, or services. So you have to choose either living in misery due to debts, or happiness. Do not forget that a highly indebted individual is never happy, because he or she’s enslaved by debts.

If you’re so much in love with materialism; thus, find it difficult to forego many of your wants, you’ve to realise that we came to this world with nothing, and will leave with nothing. On reflecting on this fact, I have a question for you. Do you prefer to swim in debts for things that are temporary, instead of having a serenity, joy and happiness? However, God the Creator and Controller of everything is the ultimate solution to relieving you from huge debts—even when there’s no will power to be self- disciplined, he can provide the needed strength. On replacing materialism by God in your life, God whose grace abound, will graciously, faithfully, and generously set you free from all bondage, including that of debts. There’s absolutely nothing he cannot do for you. All that he expects from you is for you to surrender your life to Him, and He’ll take care of the rest. He’s anxiously waiting for you to open your heart, and your life for him to take control. Nothing but God can rescue you from bondage—debts, bitterness, guilt, or whatever that has been rendering you miserable. When this is done individually, on reaching the critical mass, the effects of the change would be felt in the whole society. Conversely, whatever takes God’s place in your life, or the society, sooner or later, its effects will definitely be exposed, and they are always disastrous, like our current experienced economic dilemma. How can you escape misery by replacing the worship of materialism by God in your life? The answer is simpler than you could imagine—you don’t need to spend any amount of money, neither do you have to do anything extraordinary.  The starting point is to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour and acknowledge that He came and die on the cross for your sins, so that you might be set free from all guilt and bondage. This could be done if you converse the just-written facts, and surrendering yourself, your sins or wrong doings, bad habits, desires, weaknesses, and your strengths to God. How exactly this could be done, you may wonder. Wherever you are, just look for a quiet place where you wouldn’t be disturbed, close your eyes to avoid distractions, and open your heart, pains, and vulnerability to God, talk to Him as you would to your earthly father. Converse with Him, as He’s besides you, for He’s actually with you; ask Him for forgiveness for all your wrong doings, because we all have disobeyed Him in one way or the other, and surrender everything about you to Him, and then conclude all these in the name of Jesus. If this is done sincerely and soberly with humility, you’ll sense a great relief—all your heavy-heartedness and, guilt, and misery will automatically disappear, and you’ll surely feel like a liberated slave. Why do you not need to pay any amount, or make any sacrifice? It’s because Jesus paid all the price, and make all the sacrifices on your behalf when he died on the cross; He was condemned so that you will be liberated from all your sins, and bondage; He was rejected so that you will be accepted; He was insulted so that you will be respected, and he was killed, so that you will have eternal life. God loves you infinitely and unconditionally, and He’s anxiously awaiting your decision. All that He expects from you is your invitation. He’ll not force you to do anything, because He respects you, and your decisions. He only point out the effects of making any decision or taking any action. The choice is yours. If you’re very happy with your present circumstance or condition, I advise you to continue with it; else, I strongly advocate that you heed to the content of this piece, and you’ll definitely see the difference.However, should you have any doubt, and need more explanation, I advise you to talk to God as previously indicated, asking Him to lead you to the right church where you could be given all the necessary explanation, assistance, and guidance. Pastors or leaders of your local church will surely be delighted to receive you, even without any appointment, and to give you the necessary advise, explanation, or assistance. On taking the contents of this article seriously, and applying it as advocated, you will certainly realise the following:

-        You will feel released from all anxiety, and guilt

-        You will have sense of purpose for your life

-        Your urge for materialism, which often prompted you to indebtedness, will disappear completely.

-        While some of your bad habits will disappear immediately, others will do so gradually, as the presence of the Holy Spirit will gradually be dominating your life, and erasing them off.

These are possible because on accepting Christ as your Lord, and Saviour, and inviting Him to take control of all aspects of your life, He’ll give you the Holy Spirit, who will protect, guide, comfort, and lead you through all your daily activities.  Today, now is the time for you to take a decision. Don’t wait for tomorrow, because it may never come. The sooner you take a decision, the quicker your situation will change for the better—you will surely discover the other side of life that you never experienced. If you wish to take an action now, would you please repeat this statement after me? Oh God my heavenly Father, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and all therein, I thank you for giving me this  opportunity to realise that you love me so much that you sent your only Son Jesus Christ to come and  die on the  cross for my sins, and that  in spite of my innumerable sins, you still love and care for me. Father I pray and ask you in the name of Jesus that you forgive all my sins, for I committed them out of ignorance. Almighty God, I invite Jesus into my life, and I accept Him as my Lord and only Saviour. I ask you from now on, to take control of all aspects of my life, and may your name be praised through my life. From now on, I welcome Holy Spirit to administer to me; leading, guiding, and comforting me in Jesus’ name I pray. Amen!

Offering this prayer with sincerity and humility, and really believing in its contents, you will definitely start to feel differently. The joy, which only flourishes with the presence of God, will be ushered into your mind, heart, and thoughts. You will become a different person, and even your family, neighbours, friends, and associates will notice it, and they would even ask you the reason for the sudden changes in you.

May Almighty Father whose love, faithfulness, mercy, and grace is boundless bless you; may He answer all your prayers according to His love and kindness, and above all, may His will for you be done, in Jesus’ name. Amen! God bless you!