“Pastor, each time I lend people money, they hardly pay back as they promised. I eventually run into debts and also borrow to sustain myself. Why is there no reward for my kindness?”

First, lending people money is not an act of kindness, it’s business. Secondly, lending a poor man money and expecting a pay back from the same man is wickedness, and God may resist you. I mean, where do you expect him to get the money from?

Ofcourse, God wants to bless us to a point where we’d begin to lend money to business people and nations, but definitely not to poor people. Let’s see how scriptures put it:

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.

Notice two key things from this scripture:

1. LEND… AND NOT BORROW

Lending is an act of giving out money in the hope of getting it back, borrowing is the act of collecting money in the hope of giving it back. If you’re compelled to borrow money to survive after you’ve lended to people, then you didn’t practice that scripture well. If you want to be a successful lender, then you must constrain yourself from borrowing. Obviously, the reason why most lenders become broke is because those who they lended money didn’t pay back at the stipulated time.

2. THOU SHALL LEND UNTO MANY NATIONS…

If you have to lend, lend to businesses and nations. Personally, I don’t lend poor people money, I give them what is within my budget to sow and pray for them. And if what I budgeted for seed sowing has been exhausted, I’d respectfully explain the situation to them. “Sorry, I can’t help you at this time, I’ve exhausted my budget”. Ofcourse, they’d feel bad about it, especially those who know my financial capacity, but it’s better for them to feel bad than for me to borrow to survive.

Someone recently contacted me that he needed to borrow some amount of money to settle some bills. After listening to him, I sent him half of the money as a seed. It was a huge relief for him, even though he’d still need to look for the other half. On my part, I won’t have to be looking for him to pay back the money he borrowed, because I gave it to him as a seed. That’s a relief for me too. Moreover, Proverbs 19:17 says, “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again”. So giving to the poor is still a lending process, but in this case, you lended to God. And surely, God will pay.

If giving to the poor is lending to God, why on earth would anybody lend to the poor? I can lend to businesses and nations with proper documentations. They’d mortgage something in return for what was borrowed so I won’t have to burden myself for a refund. But for a poor person who has no means of returning the money, no way!

You must avoid borrowing to survive, and that’s because a borrower is servant to the lender. As a Christian, you can’t serve two masters. If you mismanage your financial blessings, you may be compelled to borrow to survive. Once you do, you’d be serving the one who you borrowed money from, and God doesn’t want that, you can’t serve God and mammon.

Be a giver, but give within your budget. And don’t ever break that burget except God lays it in your heart to. Needy people will never cease in the land, so it’s wisdom to have a fixed budget for them weekly or monthly. Once you exceed that budget, everybody else should wait till you reimburse. It’s not wickedness, it’s called financial discipline.

Someone may begin to think that I must be selfish to say this. On the contrary, I give daily, but when I exhaust my budget, I’m not ashamed to say “NO”.

Beware though, some needy people know how to abuse one’s generosity. Just because they know you’d rather give and not lend them, they’d attempt to put all their financial needs on you. For such people, lending them might be the only way to keep them off your back. Knowing that they won’t be able to return it, they’d also not be able to come back to present future needs to you. I’ve had to do this to many people who wouldn’t let me rest, and just as predicted, they neither return the money nor present any further need to me. Some of them even avoid having conversations with me, just so I don’t remember what they owe. Unfortunately for them, lending them the money was my bailout strategy, and asking them for the money will blow my strategy😂.

So, give with wisdom, give with understanding, give with discernment. Otherwise, you’d suffer lack and want.

I hope this has brought enlightenment to someone.

Remain ever blessed, in Jesus precious name!

#EmekaAnslem