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| “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.” |
| —Proverbs 22:7 |
One day, more than a decade ago, I arrived home with a heavy heart. My desk was littered with bills that I could not pay. With God’s help, I had spent the previous decade digging myself out of an enormous credit card debt—well over $100,000.
Most of that horrible debt came not from riotous living on my part, but rather from time after time when I stepped forward to help someone in need, offering money I did not really have.
A dear friend wanted to start a radio ministry? I bought all of the equipment he needed with one of my fourteen credit cards.
Another friend had a death in her family and needed to fly to California to attend the funeral? I quickly bought a ticket.
The church needed to remodel the sound system? Of course I will buy and donate the equipment.
A friend’s son could not afford to purchase his college textbooks? Let me call the college bookstore and give them one of my credit cards.
Over and over again, for what seemed at the time as the most honorable of reasons, I dug myself deeper in debt.
After ten long years of fighting my way out from under the weight of that debt, I had finally reached the point where I had one last card to pay off.
But, my health had begun to fail. I had more bills than I had money. I did not want to go backwards into debt. I arrived home that night so discouraged.
As I looked through the mail that night, fearing that it might contain yet another bill, I came across a letter with an unfamiliar return address. I opened it to find a handwritten note and a check for $5,000.
“Dear Dean,” the note began. “My wife is writing this note for me, as I now suffer from Parkinson's disease. I was thinking just the other day of that wonderful seminar you gave my employees several years ago. I feel as if I never had the chance to express the depth of my gratitude for the excellent and professional way you covered such complex subjects and made them so understandable for my valuable employees. I hope you will accept this check as my ‘Thank You.'’”
To say the least, I was stunned. That gracious gift enabled me to pay my bills and stay on track reducing my credit card debt.
The sender knew nothing of my circumstances. The seminar he spoke of had taken place more than five years before. Since that time, I'd had no contact with this individual.
Nevertheless, God knew my genuine need and used this generous man as an instrument of His grace.
King Solomon has offered these relevant words in Proverbs 22:7-9:
The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.
Whoever sows injustice reaps calamity, and the rod they wield in fury will be broken.
The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.
As a new day begins and we start our day in prayer, let’s ask God if He will open ways for us to share generously with those who genuinely need help.
Even if our current circumstances limit our ability to give generously of our material possessions, let’s give those in genuine need a friendly smile, a warm embrace, a kind word, a loving encouragement, and our sincere and fervent prayers.
Let us remember the God who, in our deep need, sought us and bought us with the redeeming blood of His precious Son. And, let us determine to show that same love to others.
