I couldn't think of poems for the following study sessions, but here are some thoughts that I might use some day if something comes.
More Value than Many Sparrows
Ye are of more value than many sparrows. I like this phrase and could see it working. Perhaps, I will incorporate something from Moses 1, where Moses speaks with God who says three times, "Moses, my son." Then, Satan comes and immediately says, "Moses, thou son of man." Satan attempts to destroy our self worth, but God always wants us to understand that we are of more value than many sparrows, which if even one of the sparrows fall, he notices. How much more will he notice when we, who are his sons or daughters, fall?
A man's life consisteth not of the abundance of things
A man's life consisteth not of the abundance of things. This is in Luke 12. I have recently been faced with a monetary and family dilemma. We lent almost our entire savings to my sister-in-law so that she wouldn't be stuck in a high-interest debt when she got married. She promised that she would make the payments us, but she wouldn't have to pay interest. We then let her rent our place when she got married. They moved out after three months because they had racked up so much debt again that they couldn't afford the rent. She promised to pay us the rent she owed. We have yet to see any of this money. When we ask her and her husband to help with the house in the slightest amount, they literally throw a tantrum and refuse to help. In addition, they are draining my in-laws of the little money they have. They refuse to eat anything that they dislike, which turns out to be anything that is not a name brand or fast food.
The point of this story is that I have been debating about sending them a long, angry letter telling them that I want the money back now. After she got yelled at when she asked for some help, Catie gave me permission to send them a bill for the damage that was done to our house within three months (red paint was spilled on our kitchen floor, their dog peed everywhere on our carpet, and Catie spent the first two weeks moving their stuff and cleaning the place before she could even start working on repairs). However, after reading this verse, I'm not sure that I can send them a letter like I was planning. I'm not going to clear the debt because they need to learn how to manage their finances in a responsible way, but I will give myself some time to cool down before I actually send them a letter. The abundance of things don't matter.
There Arose a Mighty Famine After. . .
After reading the story of the prodigal son, I noticed that when he wasted his father's inheritance it says, "There was a mighty famine in the land." I found this interesting because of the times that we are living in. There's a mighty famine in our land after we have wasted so much money during the prosperous 90's and 2000's. From this, I wrote some of the other mighty famines:
There arose a mighty famine after the prodigal son wasted his money
There arose a mighty famine after Israel's sons wasted Joseph
There arose a mighty famine after the world wasted the prophets and apostles
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I think you should send them the bill. There is a huge difference between the prodigal son and the unnamed party, the prodigal son was penitent, they are not, they dont care.
ReplyDeleteI agree with sending them a bill, but don't expect a return. You should only lend money when you would also be willing to give it away. You can't control someone elses choices but you don't need to feel responsible for them. Let them pay high interest charges in the future. That is what will pay for the collection agency to go after them.
ReplyDeleteSorry for your loss. Time to get out from under it and get some responsible, unrelated tenants.
Good luck.
Larry
Well, actually the prodigal son wasn't penitent until after the famine came. I should've put some headers because that story wasn't supposed to be tied with the prodigal son.
ReplyDeleteLarry,
Thanks for the advice. I didn't mean to harp on my in-laws and tell my sob story. I just shared it to explain what I was thinking when I read that scripture.
One thing that I think (and hope) I'm starting learn from all of this is that if you are faithful, pay your tithes and offerings, and try to manage your stewardship the best that you can, then the Lord will take care of you. Our savings were almost down to nothing from December to March. That's when they moved out. However, our tax returns came which provided enough to repair the house (I know I shouldn't be giving the government an interest-free loan, but it sure was a life-saver this year), as well as a minimal reserve in the bank. And, we just got a great tenant to rent out our house. He's even talked about buying it (we'll have to see about that one).