Are there holes in your bag (New York, NY)

Are there holes in your bag

Haggai 1 6 Ye have sown much and bring in little ye eat but ye have not enough ye drink but ye are not filled with drink ye clothe you but there is none warm and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. (In a lifetime the wages you have earned add up to a large some of money. Now ask yourself a question where has all that money gone Have you succumbed to usury More than likely. God most definitely has a hand in just how much money He will allow you to have and to hold).Haggai 1 7 Thus saith the LORD of hosts Consider your ways. (Do a self evaluation. Ask yourself the tough questions. Is there a better way to do things The truthful answer will more than likely be yes) Deuteronomy 15 6 For the LORD thy God blesseth thee as he promised thee and thou shalt lend unto many nations but thou shalt not borrow and thou shalt reign over many nations but they shall not reign over thee. (Nations are instructed not to borrow. Does this apply to individuals also Nations are made up of individuals aren t they) Deuteronomy 28 15 But it shall come to pass if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee (Curses you can bring upon yourself go all the way to verse 68. Study them diligently. Be careful what you ask for).Deuteronomy 28 16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city and cursed shalt thou be in the field. (It doesn t matter where you live you will be cursed if you do not follow God s laws).Deuteronomy 28 17 Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. (That bag of groceries cost many times more than what it did just a few years back. Though the food on the shelves is still there the price of that food has increased greatly. Are you blessed when you go through the check out line or are you cursed. How deep do you have to dig into your purse or wallet We should be thankful though that there is an abundance of food on the shelf even at that price).Deuteronomy 28 19 Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. (It doesn t matter whether you are coming or going you will be cursed if you do not follow God s laws).Food for thought Usury makes debt slavery legal and is a means of making profit out of it. Although a person who chooses to get into debt ultimately chooses to do so often in spite of interest repayments it remains a wrong on part of the usurer to charge such usury because it is to profit of the debt slavery of another. Are you a slave to debt Whether or not a Christian should own and use credit cards depends upon the person s self-control wisdom and understanding of the power that credit cards have to own us. One major problem with lending institutions and credit card companies is that they make much of their wealth from people with unwise spending habits and those too poor to repay their debt. When God gave His law to the Israelites He specified that they were not to lend money with interest to their fellow countrymen (Leviticus 25 36 Exodus 22 25). The King James Version calls this interest usury. Usury sounds like what it means exorbitant interest rates charged to those who can t afford to pay them. In contrast Psalm 15 5 describes the person who dwells in God s presence as someone who among other things lends money to the poor without interest. Many people have found that they cannot trust themselves with credit cards (there is the main problem) . They tend to view them as free money since the actual bill does not come for weeks and even then only a minimum payment is required. They can have a 2 000 boat today and only pay for it a few hundred dollars at a time over several months. What they don t want to think about is that the 2 000 new boat becomes a 4 000 used boat by the time they finally have it paid off at the minimum payment each month. Wasting money on interest is not good stewardship of the resources God has entrusted to us (see 1 Timothy 6 10 Proverbs 22 7). Wise spending means we strive to live below our means so that we always have money for emergencies and enough to share with those in need. Living beyond your means is spending more than you make not a wise thing to do. When you find yourself in a hole quit digging do something different. The key is being able to recognize you are in a hole. Spending more than you make is a really dumb idea. Earning interest on our investments rather than paying interest on our spending is a wise way to handle money. In Matthew 25 Jesus gives the example of three servants two of whom invested what the master had entrusted to them and doubled the initial sum. The third servant however did not invest. In verse 27 the master tells him Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Credit cards are not evil in themselves. They can be beneficial handy and even economical for the person who knows how to use them wisely. When we are in charge of our finances rather than our finances being in charge of us we don t make idols out of the things we can buy. Nor do we use our money to control other people. Wise credit card users never pay the exorbitant interest tacked on to their purchases. They pay off the initial balance at the end of each month thereby using the card without it using them. When we view credit cards as cash we stay in control of our spending. We don t charge what we cannot afford and therefore don t end up with a staggering shock when the bill comes. Charging only what we can afford to pay helps us obey Hebrews 13 5 Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. When we refuse the lure of spending on credit we learn to practice contentment (1 Timothy 6 6). Through contentment we develop godly character and see our finances as a way to bless others and honor God (Psalm 37 26 Proverbs 11 24 25 2 Corinthians 9 7).