Day 20 | 21-Day Growth Challenge | "Dealing with Children, Debt and Generosity"

Saturday, September 18, 2010 Bryan Hudson 7 Comments








SELECTED SCRIPTURES & INSIGHTS FROM PROVERBS 22:

Proverbs 22:4 True humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches, honor, and long life.

Being humble and walking in the fear of the Lord does not make you weak or disengaged from the "real world." Humility brings blessing from the Lord. He can trust humble people to handle blessings properly and keep all things in perspective.

Proverbs 22:6 Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.

Every child gets trained. The question is: Who is training your children? Be diligent to know what your children are learning and what examples are being modeled before them. Our children attended Christian school, but my wife and I had to work to instill in them our own family, cultural and biblical values. The "right path" is not the same for every family or every person.

Proverbs 22:7 Just as the rich rule the poor, so the borrower is servant to the lender.

Recently, I was reminded of the control that the rich exercise over the poor. It looks like the only things that the urban "poor" (comparatively speaking) are allowed to "rule" are their barber shops, beauty salons and churches. (Of course, I'm being a little cynical!)

When people are saddled with consumer debt, they are not free. This year, a law was enacted that required lenders to show on credit billing statements the time required to pay off a debt, if making minimum payments. This is a true picture of borrowers serving lenders!

Proverbs 22:9 Blessed are those who are generous, because they feed the poor.

This is another reference to the virtue of blessing poor people. Clearly, this is part of God's plan for our lives.

Proverbs 22:26-27 Don’t agree to guarantee another person’s debt or put up security for someone else.  If you can’t pay it, even your bed will be snatched from under you.

This is a warning regarding the perils of "co-signing" on debt for another person. Note the words, "If YOU can't pay it…" (Not if THEY can't pay it…) This is certainly not a prescription for "prosperity God's way!"

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PRAYER:
"Lord, I thank You for guidance in raising children, dealing with debt and how to become more generous. Show me how and when to say 'No' or Yes' to requests. In Jesus' Name, Amen!"

ACTIVATION:
(Use comment section below to share your insights. Record sensitive items in your personal journal. You can login or simply use your first name.)
  1. What 2-3 key points stand out to you in this lesson?
  2. What actions will you take today related to this lesson?
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COMMENT SECTION:
Click on "Comments" to read others and add yours afterwards.

7 comments :

  1. Today's lesson regarding debt and generosity is vital. God speaks to us throughout proverbs about this very subject. This suggests to me the importance of prosperity and generosity/ sowing and reeping. God has invested so much into us, he gave his Son for us. I believe that he is looking for a return on that investment. What are we doing for the kingdom? Whose lives are we touching? What are we doing with what he has given us? We are blessed to be a blessing. Of course we cannot repay God for what he has done but when we are diligent towards seeking him and his way of doing things I believe he is pleased.

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  2. 1. The two points that stand out most to me are: a.) Direct your children onto the right path, when they are older they will not leave it. I was at the mall many years back, walked up to a both where a young man of 19 was working selling watches & ring. I began to complement him, as I did, he expressed anger that he had to work to pay some of his college expenses, he didn't feel he should have to because his father was a doctor-making plenty of money. His father told him that his parents also made him work to help with the expenses of college as well. I encouraged the young man that his fathers point was 'just because someone close to you has money or something of which they worked for...this doesn't mean you automatically will have access to it with no responsibility of your own', it bills humility, a sense of accomplishment, and good work ethics. Of course he wasn't trying to hear all that, but I think he gave it some thought.
    b.) Don't agree to guarantee another person's debt or put up security for some one else, if you can't pay it, even your bed will be snatched from under you. I have a long time friend who is a lawyer. She found herself in financial debt after trying to help her daught get established in some sort of realistate investment business. She co-signed for her, and stood as her legal adviser as she received money from clients to invest in properties. Trusting her daughter and knowing that she was smart and very experienced in the world of investment...she did not monitor her actions after she was up and running. A couple of years later the clients began to look for a return on their investments...there was none. The daughter had used much of the money for living expense in a class that she had come to enjoy very much, simular to that of her mothers. When the heat mounted and legal actions were threaten, she(the daughter) took off leaving her mother facing a law suit of nearly $200,000 dollars to re-imburse the investers. The daughter was in over her head and did not share with her mother when things took a turn. Even though the mother was able to pay back an agreed on amount, the duped clients were will to snatch the bed from under her for her daughters dishonesty. It may hurt to say 'no' to someone you want to help, but If the wisdom of God says don't do it, we must trust Gods' warnings.
    2. Actions Taken: pray that I will give ear to Gods' warnings of 'tuff love' when it would be so easy to give to someone you want to help out of their mess.

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  3. Great insights!

    @Brenda
    I agree that parents who have means, like the Doctor you mentioned, are wise to let their children learn to work and earn.

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  4. 1.Most lessons we learn after our mistakes are costly.I wished I'd read Prov.22:26-27 years ago.It would have kept me from a lot of heart
    aches and regrets.
    "Don't agree to guarantee another person's
    debt or put up security for someone else.
    If you can't pay it, even your bed will be
    snatched from under you."
    God desires to keep us from sin and making costly mistakes, by the examples he placed in the bible, from others who have experienced the same things.
    2.I'm going to continue to search God's word. His word has something for everything that life will throw at me.Any decisions I make, God's word has an answer to.Wisdom will help me find it and understanding will help me act on what to do, God's Way.
    -Davis

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  5. 1. The 2-3 key points that stand out to me in this lesson:
    a. Proverbs 22:4 The person that chooses to humble oneself under the mighty hand of the Lord has chosen the path to be exalted by Him in due time, and to prosper in all things , and be in health, even as one’s the soul prospers (riches, honor, long life).
    b. Proverbs 22:6 The love, time, and all the efforts in training parents give to the rearing of their children in the right path is the means that will set in motion a return later in life that will benefit the children, parents, and society as a whole.
    c. Proverbs 22:7 and 26-27 deal with warnings about choosing to enter into the burden of debt, to carry it for yourself or for someone else. In regard to entering into one’s own debt, the warning is that one is placed under the rule of, basically becomes a slave of, the lender. In the other matter of being guarantee for another person’s debt, the debt is considered to be yours, all the resources you own are attached to the debt, and the lender can take even the most basic things (your bed) from you, if you cannot pay the debt.
    In the times we live in we have seen and experience d the “bursting” of the debt bubble. The prosperity of all the people in this nation, as well as other countries, has been affected.
    2. The action I will take today is to thank the Lord for how the instruction of His word clearly provides the wisdom for dealing with children, debt, generosity, and all of life’s matters.

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  6. While the world system continues to promote fame and fortune as the avenue one should have in order to be happy; people need only to accept the truth of God's word, vs4., humility and the fear of the Lord exceeding anything the world can offer. We can enjoy the material things, while being rich in spirit,receive honor,have longevity. vs6. The world spends countless amount of money trying to resolve the issues facing our youth and God's word simply tells us to train them in the ways of God, which will produce responsible adults. vs9. The solution to world hunger is generorsity, which comes from knowing and following the word of God.
    2. I pray for the wisdom, humility and fear of God, that I might have the right response to the needs in my life and to other within my sphere of influence.

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  7. 1.What 2-3 key points stand out to you in this lesson?
    Proverbs 22:6 Directing your children in the path that they should take not only benifits the child, but this is also a reflexion on you and the values, standards and principles that make up your character. This scripture supports the fact that everyone should have a foundation on which to build upon and the best foundation is established in the knowledge of who God is.

    We have learned the difference between the foolish and the wise in studying the book of proverds, and only the foolish would co-sign for someone and expect not to be responsible for them if they forfeit the debt. So the wise person encourages that person to save until they are able to be responsible for what they have by signing for themselves.

    Proverbs 22:9 tells us that blessed are those that are generous because they feed the poor.
    God will always bless those that care enough to help clothe, feed and shelter those that are poor and unable to do for themselves; because of the fact that God always searches the heart of those that are generous.

    2.What actions will you take today related to this lesson?
    We will always pray to God that he will continually place it upon our hearts to be wise financial stuarts and manage our lives according to his word.

    ReplyDelete