Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Family”
Our Bible verse for today: “The wicked man borrows and does not repay.” Psalm 37:12 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Avoid borrowing. But if you do borrow, then repay, and repay on time.”
Yesterday I felt led to write a devotional message about borrowing and lending. My main point was that borrowing and lending between family members and friends is often a risky business. It opens the door for one party to feel indebted to the other, and it also creates the possibility of the loan not being repaid, or not repaid on time. That then creates anger and resentment, and it often leads to damaged relationships.
The message yesterday was directed primarily at those who have been approached for a loan, and my word of advice was to either say “no”, or to give the money as a gift. I encouraged you to avoid extending loans to family or friends.
But I think a word also needs to be said to those who might seek to borrow. First of all, you should avoid it to the greatest extent possible. Each of us has a responsibility to provide for ourselves and to live as best we can on what we have. But, sometimes you might get into a financial jam and need a little help. So if you are going to seek a loan from a family member or friend, pay it back. And pay it back on time. The Bible says that it is wicked to default on your debts.
As a potential lender we also need to be careful that we don’t enable bad financial habits on the part of those who tend to borrow frequently. Years ago there was a woman who was close to my family who had the bad habit of borrowing frequently. She always seemed to have a sad story to tell and there always seemed to be a reason that she needed to borrow some money. She also had the bad habit of not repaying what she borrowed. There was usually a sad story to go along with that too.
Finally I cut her off. I simply told her that there would be no more loans and she just needed to get to the point in life of providing for herself. And guess what? She survived! It’s true! Once I stopped being her personal ATM she just had to figure it out for herself. And she did. That was years ago and to this day she is still figuring it out for herself. She has actually begun demonstrating some personal responsibility.
Would she have achieved that increased level of personal responsibility if I had continued to feed her money? Almost certainly not. When I finally started saying “no” to her requests did she have some tough times and was it a little painful for her? Yes it was. But that was a good thing. It’s what we refer to as “education through pain”. Sometimes our lessons need to hurt a little bit in order for them to result in the needed change.
If you are the kind of person who tends to borrow from family and friends I encourage you to stop it. If you are the kind of person who tends to be an enabler of those who have the habit of borrowing, I encourage you to stop it too.
Borrowing and lending is best avoided to the greatest extent possible.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 