Siblings
I pray your weekend was restful and that you are ready to face this new work week. Have you ever been caught in the indignity of changing your route or routine to avoid seeing someone you owe? It can be humiliating. Unfortunately, living in a world that thrives on ‘credit’, being indebted seems like a good thing. But it isn’t. Consider Today’s Holy Nougat.
Romans 13:7 NIV
[7] Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honour, then honour.
Pay our Bills
I kid you not, as I typed the theme, I remembered not one, but two outstanding bills. So I’m thanking God for this reminder, as I’d rather not come home to silence or darkness. In one instance, it’s not wholly my fault … I set up the auto-pay system. But I’d started to pre- pay the bill, not realizing that in so doing, I actually effected an override function. This month, I forgot to pre-pay, and the machine was now waiting for new instructions. Lesson learned. The other, no excuse. I just have to go pay my bill.
Question
Do you have a system to assist you in covering your bills? How reliable are you with your payments?
Application
Unfortunately, there are some of us in Christ who have established our reputations as bad debtors. I’m not speaking about when we’re caught in a bad patch financially (whether in between jobs or life happened). I’m speaking about those of us who feel that it’s alright to misremember that we owe Jack while we’re on to crediting some frivolity from Jenny. Some of us even justify it by saying that Jack is wealthy.
But Jack’s wealth isn’t ours to use in that way. Jack’s wealth is Jack’s, and if God had plans for us tapping in on Jack’s wealth, God will initiate that connection. Thankfully, that attitude isn’t my portion, but I have seen it happen. I’ve even seen it destroy friendships. And, I’ve also seen the effect on people’s reputations.
Of course, there are some shops in Jamaica that solve the problem with a placard:
Mr Trust Don’t Live Here
Message delivered and interpreted.
The fact is, the way we handle our finances has the potential to impact the way others view our faith. There are several memes circulating about greed: a pastor was tested on the response to being overpaid or other social media experiments regarding people’s integrity. Often, it shows several epic fails before finding one honest person. May that one honest person be us.
There is also the other side of the equation. When we give, the world must know. For those of us like that, it is par for the course to find us telling others about our good deed. We will discuss it in more detail this week, God permitting. Suffice it to say that that isn’t exemplary either.
Moreover, that example tells us money isn’t the only debt we can have. Our Nougat is clear: for God’s sake, let’s pay our bills on time, even if it’s not financial.
Point to Ponder
Do we have outstanding debts – let’s pay up quickly, for God’s reputation might be sullied when we don’t.
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May all we seek be found in Christ
