OT: Isaiah 25-26
NT: Acts 14
W&W: Proverbs 22
Today’s Reflection:
Though at the time I didn’t know where it was from, I remember my mother quoting the line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “Neither a borrower nor a lender be.” Mom quoted it to me at times I would complain to her that one of my siblings either broke something I loaned them or wouldn’t return it. She was teaching me: “Don’t lend something you can’t afford to lose.” That’s a hard lesson to learn when you’re a kid.
The converse of that lesson is also true: Don’t borrow something you can’t afford to buy! The Wise Man in Proverbs teaches us something about borrowing and lending: “The borrower is servant to the lender” (Proverbs 22.7). How true that is! We are a nation of debtors, and we are working longer and longer to serve the debt. I’m afraid it is going to get worse.
Our politicians want to have it both ways. They are offering consumers easier, less responsible debt by making the creditors “give back” money to irresponsible debtors. The problem is that credit will get easier and borrowers will be less responsible in repaying their debts. Good debtors will be forced to pay for the spending habits of poor debtors (not monetarily poor, but poor in the sense of being unskilled at handling debt). President Obama and Congress feel compelled to offer this incentive to would-be debtors because they want us all to become even more consumeristic. But to whom are we becoming servants with all this debt?
We need to be very careful when we borrow. We will be servants to those we borrow from. Do we wish to serve:
- Banks and big business?
- China or other foreign governments?
- Our own over-sized government?
- A future of interest payments?
So, thanks, Mom! Lord Polonius’ advice in Hamlet is sound: Neither a borrower nor a lender be. As much as possible, I intend to heed the admonition of the New Testament: “Let no debt remain outstanding but the continuing debt to love” (Romans 13.8a).
This Week’s Scripture to Memorize:
1 John 1.5-6: This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
2 comments:
I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of our situation as a country and as a culture. It's terrifying to think about not only what we're getting ourselves into as a nation, not only WHO is going to be paying for it (our kids and grandkids), but what are we teaching this generation?? It's okay if you are irresponsible, the taxpayers will always be there to bail you out.
God expects us to be honest and responsible with our money. These days it's all too easy to pass the buck onto someone else (literally). Who is this really hurting? There is "no such thing as a free lunch", and making the taxpayers pay for the mistakes of those who have failed to pay their debts is not only essentially, in my opinion, government-supported armed robbery, but it is teaching our children a very dangerous and spiritually irresponsible lesson. Your verse in Proverbs ("The borrower is servant to the lender") has taken on a scary new meaning... we are ALL servants to someone else's lender, not by our choice!
I'll get off my soapbox now. Money and finances are never easy topics, but we need to be aware of what God expects from us in this area of our lives, just like any other.
Amen to my little banker! Thanks for the additional insight.
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