Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Proverbs 22:7 The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender.
SERVANT TO THE LENDER
God who owns all things has entrusted us with much while requiring us to be faithful stewards or managers of His money.
What about borrowing money? How does this fit into being a faithful manager of what God has given? The Lord in His Word does not forbid us from borrowing money. Borrowing money is not a sin. The Lord does, however, give us insight into borrowing and lending through passages such as this one in Proverbs.
Borrowing money has taken on many forms in our day. You can borrow money by opening and using a credit card account. You can borrow money through a home equity line of credit. You can borrow money to purchase a vehicle. You can borrow money to buy the computer that you are reading this e-mail on. In every case, we must apply this piece of wisdom from God that the "borrower is servant to the lender."
There is a spiritual and emotional side to borrowing that we often overlook, which is pointed out in this passage. By borrowing money (in whatever form), we are entering into this arrangement of being servant to the lender.
A faithful steward will then want to be careful in the use of borrowing money. Think of the spiritual side of being a servant to multiple lenders: the home mortgage company, the credit card company, the electronics store, and the car manufacturer all at the same time! Excessive borrowing leads to worry (Can I make the payments?), may lead to heartache (My car was taken away), or even severe despair (I declared bankruptcy).
Imagine the freedom and peace of being servant to no one except the Lord Jesus Christ, your Master who bought you with His own blood "and you are not your own . . . for you were bought at a price."
