I have heard it said that the government is simply a reflection of the people who put it into office.  Our government spends all it confiscates in taxes and then borrows/prints more.  Most of us as people do the same.  As a society, we spend all we make and then borrow more by loans and credit cards.  We would print more ourselves, but for us, that is illegal.

As we left the chiropractor’s office this morning early, we noticed in a popular strip mall that several once-popular businesses were no longer there.  Sad.  But apparently, this is true all across the country.  According to Fortune, more than 110.000 eating and drinking establishments closed in 2020. According to CBS NEWS, 9 million US small businesses fear they won’t survive the pandemic.  Sad again.  What could these people have done to prevent this?

I have heard over the past few years in the farming industry, farms that have been in families for generations are in danger or have already been foreclosed on by the banks.  Why is this?

The causes of these tragedies may be numerous.  But here is a thought.

Our tendency as humans is to think that tomorrow will be just like today.  So, in years of plenty, we take out loans and expand our businesses or build new barns.  Nothing inherently wrong with this except when it is done on borrowed money.  If you use the money for expansion from a savings fund your business had set up, then when hard times come, as they always do, the lender won’t be coming to take your farm or business.

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

We are to serve God, not take the abundance He gives us and give it away to the banker so he can make a living. And work to serve the lender.

Deuteronomy 28:12 The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

How do you set up yourself to not be a servant to the lender? How do you set up your life to be a lender and not a borrower?

1.    Stop using credit cards and borrowing money for cars, business expansion, etc.
2.    Pay off the debt you now have as fast as possible.
3.    At the same time, set up an emergency fund for unexpected expenses.
4.    Set up separate funding/saving accounts for large expenses.

a.    School for your offspring
b.    Business expansion
c.    Machine replacement
d.    Retirement
e.    Vacations

Think about this. God asks us to give at least 10% or a tithe to him.  That is troubling to some people, and they don’t give.  Yet we have no problem paying 7-20% on a credit card.  We sometimes pay the lender twice what God asks for as an everyday occurrence!!

Think:

1.    What if businesses and farms put aside money this same way and never borrowed?
2.    What if your town put aside money this same way and never borrowed?
3.    What if your state put aside money this same way and never borrowed?

This all starts at the grassroots level. Since we are part of the grassroots level, we as God’s children, should set our own fiscal house in order, then go to the next level and run for city council. Help our cities set their fiscal house in order and work our way up to the federal government.

It starts with us. Save your money!!  Live on less than you earn!!  And remember, the following idea is found five places in the gospels. Apparently, God wants us to pay attention.

Matthew 25:29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

There are many buried treasures in God’s Word that, as we think, teach us about The Prosperous Life.