THURSDAY, 1/3/08
We had a good first Wednesday of the new year in our services yesterday and last night. (I have already heard from some that they didn’t know we were having services yesterday/last night thus the reason for their absence – no comment!) The Lord blessed our time together and I am grateful for His blessings.
Our adults continue to study through the book of Romans and yesterday we focused on chapter 13, verses 8 – 10, with most of the focus on 8A – “owe no man anything” as we considered what that means to us. Warren Wiersbe writes that J. Hudson Taylor, missionary to China, and Charles H. Spurgeon, great preacher of yester year, both took this verse to mean that we should not have any debt so they personally carried no debt. I think it is a great thing when a person/family/church can be debt free. As a matter of fact, one of the first things to happen when I became Pastor of the Friendship family was for us to promote “Debt Free By ’93” and it became a reality. The Lord has honored that and we have been able to perhaps be more involved financially in doing ministry and missions. The Friendship family presently maintains that debt free standing and we are thankful that God has made this possible for us.
Our college students/young adults had a lively discussion about this matter. Basically, they stated that without loans i.e. student, auto, mortgage then they would not have an education, vehicle, or a place to live. Many of them indicated a strong desire to eventually be debt free but the present circumstances do not make that a reality.
My focus was really on credit card debt and encouraging folks to be wise in this area. I also realize that when you consistently spend more than you make then you are going to have financial problems. Credit cards can help that to happen. The reported credit card debt in America today is 920 billion dollars and that figure is expected to rise to $965 billion by year’s end.
In your opinion, does “owe no man anything” mean that a person is wrong to incur a debt? Or does it mean to be timely when paying your debts? Perhaps some sage i.e. T. Garrett, Mark Mast, Bret Hart, out there in cyberspace can enlighten us.
FYI – our young adults also discussed the importance of giving to the Lord through the local church. It didn’t seem to be just “church talk” but was coming from the heart. I was blessed!
In our Bible study for the adults we ended by discussing the “but to love one another” and how that fulfills the law. Love is a verb. Tom Brady recently said “well done is always better than well said” (I am told that quote originated with Ben Franklin but don’t know that for certain) and is true in our love for one another too. I pray that they will see our love one for another and then they will know we are disciples of Jesus.
Scott Older was in our late Bible study last night and asked us to pray for his younger sister, Taylor, who is eight years old. She is presently in Cincinnati, Ohio at the children’s hospital for some tests.
Happy birthday wishes go out to Stephanie Guidry today! She’ll probably get a cake from Anderson’s Bakery! (It is hard to believe that Diane Bryant has a daughter who is 27 as I was thinking Diane was only 37 or 38 herself)
Sorry for the extended length of this post. I hope you will have a great day with Jesus!