Living by God’s Economic Plan (Part VII)

Session 7: Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

Today we are continuing a series that I am calling “Living by God’s Economic Plan (a Christian Response to the Global Economic “Crisis”)”. We are discussing the foundational truths of the Economic Plan that God has established and documented in His instruction manual, the Bible. We will be looking at what we see out in the world, and comparing it to what we see in God’s Word, and then putting into action the steps that God gives us to establish a sound fiscal policy within our own lives. Our last lesson was called When You Do Your Alms, and we discussed three key points:

1. Jesus says WHEN you do alms, not IF!
2. Give alms to those who CAN’T, not those who WON’T!
3. Do not fear being taken advantage of!

So, if I were to summarize the previous sessions I would say they were presenting the heart of God’s Economic Plan – trusting God, living by faith, and giving cheerfully and generously. Starting with today’s lesson, I am going to start addressing specific economic topics that we deal with day in and day out. And in our present day world what better issue to address than credit?

Actually, credit isn’t the problem – being credit worthy is a good thing. It means we have demonstrated faithfulness in paying our bills. The problem occurs when we use our credit to go into debt. Our present day society encourages us to use credit to get everything we want now - don’t waste your time saving up for what you want, just put it on the credit card, or use the installment plan to pay it off a little at a time for the rest of your life. And by doing so we build up debt to the point that we suddenly find ourselves paying interest on the interest, and fees on top of fees, to the point that we find ourselves drowning in debt. Is this God’s plan? Let’s see what He says in The Bible:

The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. (Proverbs 22:7)

Let me make a quick observation here, since some Christians believe otherwise: God does NOT say that going into debt is a sin. There are a lot of verses defining guidelines and rules about borrowing and lending, and if it was simply a sin to borrow, The Bible wouldn’t waste time talking about the guidelines. In Proverbs 22, the comment explains the change in relationship as one party borrows from another – the borrower becomes servant to the lender. The lender is placed in a position of calling the shots, and the borrower becomes subservient.

Let’s take a look at another set of verses that provides some more detail on borrowing:

At the end of every seven years you shall make a release. And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lends anything unto his neighbor shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbor, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD'S release. Of a foreigner you may exact it again: but that which is yours with your brother your hand shall release; Save when there shall be no poor among you; for the LORD shall greatly bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it: Only if you carefully listen unto the voice of the LORD your God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command you this day. For the LORD your God blesses you, as he promised you: and you shall lend unto many nations, but you shall not borrow; and you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you. If there be among you a poor man of one of your brethren within any of your gates in your land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother: But you shall open your hand wide unto him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he lacks. Beware that there be not a thought in your wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing; and he cry unto the LORD against you, and it be sin unto you. You shall surely give him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give unto him: because that for this thing the LORD your God shall bless you in all your works, and in all that you put your hand unto. For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command you, saying, You shall open your hand wide unto your brother, to your poor, and to your needy, in your land. (Deuteronomy 15:1-11)

Here we see a lot of the guidelines that God gives regarding borrowing. The first thing I want to point out is that God’s guidelines would limit borrowing to a maximum of seven years. Long term debt results in very high costs over the life of the loan. If everyone followed this guideline, we would have much more manageable debt, and would save a ton of money from interest charges.

The second thing that I want to point out is that when God is blessing us, we will be lending, NOT borrowing. We will be ruling, not being ruled. And again we see that we are to be willing to give, even when the seventh year is at hand. Lending is one more way in which we bless our brothers and sisters that are in need. And while we are on the topic, let’s look at one more set of verses on this:

If you lend money to any of my people that is poor by you, you shall not be to him as a creditor, neither shall you charge him interest. If you at all take your neighbor's cloak to pledge, you shall deliver it unto him by that the sun goes down: For that is his covering only, it is his cloak for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he cries unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious. (Exodus 22:25-27)

When we loan to other believers that are in need, we should not be charging them interest. And as we look at verses 26 & 27 we see that we should not be taking advantage of people as we lend to them. Do you perhaps see a reason that banks and credit card companies are struggling these days? They have been taking advantage of their borrowers for years, through high interest and high fees. Now that the borrowers are so deep in debt that they are declaring bankruptcy, the leeches - oops, I mean the lenders - are reaping what they have sown (but I digress…).

So, here is today’s Key Point Number 1: It’s better to be a Lender than a Borrower.

And I am going to immediately follow it up with Key Point Number 2: Borrowing isn’t always Wrong, but it often isn’t Wise.

I am going to share four rules about borrowing from Ron Blue, from his book Faith-Based Family Finances:

Rule 1: Common Sense – The economic return must be greater than the economic cost. Put another way, when we borrow money, the thing that is purchased needs to grow in value or pay an economic return greater than the interest and fees we pay on the loan. Following this rule in itself would cause us not to put anything on a credit card that we can’t pay off when the bill comes – it’s pretty much impossible to get a 15% to 25% return on anything, unless YOU are the credit card company.

Rule 2: A guaranteed way to repay – Let’s take a look at Psalms 37:21:

The wicked borrows, and pays not again: but the righteous shows mercy, and gives. (Psalms 37:21)

The main thing we need to remember is that even though the bankruptcy laws in this country might make it legal to not pay back our loans, God expects us to pay them all back. So rule number two says that we do not borrow if we cannot guarantee paying it back. Using a credit card is perfectly fine if you have enough money in your checking and/or savings account to pay the bill when it arrives. A home mortgage is a bit trickier – if you follow the conventional worldly wisdom that says finance it to the max, having no equity built up in it, you had better have a lot of savings available in case you loose your job, are unable to make payments, and are unable to sell it for more than you owe on it.

Rule 3: Peace of heart and mind – This is where you examine your motives. Ask yourself these three questions:

1. Why am I doing this?
2. Am I violating any ethical or spiritual principles?
3. Do I have peace in my heart and spirit about this?

Too often we get caught up the emotion, the “but I want it now”, and can find ourselves buying things that we don’t need with money that we don’t have to impress people we don’t even know. A good way to keep yourself honest is to explain what you are doing to your spouse or a trusted friend, someone who loves you enough to be totally honest with you.

Rule 4: Unity – If your spouse does not understand what you are doing, or if they are not in agreement with doing it, DON’T.

And let me now share today’s Key Point Number 3: Borrowing can deny the opportunity to see God’s Provision. You’ll notice that I have no verses to provide for this last point. The reason is that you would be hard pressed to see a Biblical example of God arranging a loan for anyone as His means of provision. The closest would be the Exodus, where God tells the Israelites to borrow from the Egyptians, but that was more likely payment for 430 years of slavery than a true loan.

On the other hand, we see numerous examples of God’s miraculous provision. Let’s consider Jesus feeding the multitude – if this happened in our current day, ask yourself what you would have done if Jesus asked you where to get bread to feed the people? Most people in the United States would run to the store and put it on the credit card. But where is the miracle in that? We need to show enough patience and trust to receive God’s provision.

Similarly, taking out a loan because you believe that God will provide really isn’t stepping out in faith. Actually, it is tempting God. If you are taking out a loan with no guarantee to pay it back, your creditors are the ones living by faith, not you. Likewise, if you are not making payments on your debt, but you continue to give tithes and offerings expecting God to bless you, I would suggest that you are NOT living by faith, your creditors are. And I would suggest that you will not be blessed for your giving - God doesn’t bless us when we are giving other people’s money.

So, let’s make sure that if we borrow that we are doing it for the right reasons and that we can guarantee repayment. And better yet, let’s get ourselves into position to be the lender and NOT the borrower. That is where we are when we are living in God’s blessing, by God’s Economic Plan.

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