| “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.” |
| —Proverbs 22:7 |
One day, more than 20 years 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 from time after time when I stepped forward to help someone in need: offering money I did not really have. Using my eleven credit cards, I bankrolled numerous projects at my church. I helped other organizations I was a part of purchase needed supplies. Soon, my debt had mounted so that I struggled to even pay the interest each month.
- A dear friend wanted to start a radio ministry? I bought all of the equipment he needed with one of my credit cards.
- Another friend had a death in her family and needed to fly to California to attend the funeral? I quickly bought her an airline ticket.
- The church I attended at the time needed to remodel the sound system? Of course, I bought and donated the equipment.
- A friend’s son could not afford to purchase his college textbooks? I called the college bookstore and give them one of my credit cards.
- Another friend had needed car repairs. Without a car, he could not find transportation to his work and he would lose his job. I stepped forward and paid well over a thousand dollars in repair costs.
- Medical expenses plagued another friend. She couldn’t afford the co-pay on her hospital stay. I offered one of my credit cards to settle the hospital bill.
- Over and over again, for what seemed at the time as the most honorable of reasons, I dug myself ever deeper in debt.
When my credit card debt finally overwhelmed me, I cut them up and determined that, with God’s help, I would crawl out of debt and never become indebted again. 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 feeling so discouraged.
As I looked through the mail, 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,
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 small check as my “Thank You.”
To say the least, I was stunned. I stared at that check and my eyes flooded with tears. That gracious gift enabled me to pay my bills and stay on track reducing my credit card debt until it was fully and finally totally eliminated. 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, Jesus. And, let us determine to show that same God-breathed love to others.
Based on a blog originally posted on Monday, April 13, 2015
