“Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Romans 13:7-10, ESV
As a young adult, with three small children, whose husband was working the night shift at a factory so he could finish his college decree in the daytime; we lived on the edge financially. When unexpected funds came in; the temptation was there to buy something we did not need but wanted; but the wisdom of God’s Word would leap off the page in these times and was seared to our hearts; “do whatever it takes to pay what you owe first”. When we did not follow this wisdom, the folly of debt overwhelmed us and changed all our relationships until the debts were paid in full.
When we borrow from anyone; it changes us from the inside out and can transform our relationships. For example, the first time we borrowed from a store; I felt like I could no longer shop there until the debt for our washer and dryer was paid in full. Shopping there was no longer enjoyable! Relationship shift. When we borrowed a tool from our friends or neighbors to complete a task; we felt obligated to honor the lender with cleaning the tool before giving it back to them. Relationship shift. We borrowed from my grandma on occasion in those lean years when the end of the paycheck arrived before the end of the month. Relationship shift—not on her part by on ours. I was so anxious to pay her back that I would write a check to her for the amount borrowed with the date to cash when our paycheck hit our bank later that week. She always said, “this is not necessary”; but it was to me for I revered and respect her highly—because of our relationship.
When we are urged to “pay what we owe first”; and we do it, God who knows, cares, loves, and provides, and He is honored because we honored our lender in paying the debt in full. God teaches this wisdom because he knows how much our love for each other in relationship is important in growing in our intimate relationship with Him!
Proverbs 6, The Message
Like a Deer from the Hunter
6 1-5 Dear friend, if you’ve gone into hock with your neighbor
or locked yourself into a deal with a stranger,
If you’ve impulsively promised the shirt off your back
and now find yourself shivering out in the cold,
Friend, don’t waste a minute, get yourself out of that mess.
You’re in that man’s clutches!
Go, put on a long face; act desperate.
Don’t procrastinate—
there’s no time to lose.
Run like a deer from the hunter,
fly like a bird from the trapper!
A Lesson from the Ant
6-11 You lazy fool, look at an ant.
Watch it closely; let it teach you a thing or two.
Nobody has to tell it what to do.
All summer it stores up food;
at harvest it stockpiles provisions.
So how long are you going to laze around doing nothing?
How long before you get out of bed?
A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there,
sit back, take it easy—do you know what comes next?
Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life,
poverty your permanent houseguest!
Always Cooking Up Something Nasty
12-15 Swindlers and scoundrels
talk out of both sides of their mouths.
They wink at each other, they shuffle their feet,
they cross their fingers behind their backs.
Their perverse minds are always cooking up something nasty,
always stirring up trouble.
Catastrophe is just around the corner for them,
a total wreck, their lives ruined beyond repair.
Seven Things God Hates
16-19 Here are six things God hates,
and one more that he loathes with a passion:
eyes that are arrogant,
a tongue that lies,
hands that murder the innocent,
a heart that hatches evil plots,
feet that race down a wicked track,
a mouth that lies under oath,
a troublemaker in the family.
Warning on Adultery
20-23 Good friend, follow your father’s good advice;
don’t wander off from your mother’s teachings.
Wrap yourself in them from head to foot;
wear them like a scarf around your neck.
Wherever you walk, they’ll guide you;
whenever you rest, they’ll guard you;
when you wake up, they’ll tell you what’s next.
For sound advice is a beacon,
good teaching is a light,
moral discipline is a life path.
24-35 They’ll protect you from promiscuous women,
from the seductive talk of some temptress.
Don’t lustfully fantasize on her beauty,
nor be taken in by her bedroom eyes.
You can buy an hour with a prostitute for a loaf of bread,
but a promiscuous woman may well eat you alive.
Can you build a fire in your lap
and not burn your pants?
Can you walk barefoot on hot coals
and not get blisters?
It’s the same when you have sex with your neighbor’s wife:
Touch her and you’ll pay for it. No excuses.
Hunger is no excuse
for a thief to steal;
When he’s caught he has to pay it back,
even if he has to put his whole house in hock.
Adultery is a brainless act,
soul-destroying, self-destructive;
Expect a bloody nose, a black eye,
and a reputation ruined for good.
For jealousy detonates rage in a cheated husband;
wild for revenge, he won’t make allowances.
Nothing you say or pay will make it all right;
neither bribes nor reason will satisfy him.
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
Notice how the wisdom of Proverbs provide a backdrop, a background, the detailed illustrations and outlines of HOW to obey the Ten Commandments with WHAT happens when we do not trust and obey God!
Later, after Jesus paid what we owed for our sins in full; the Apostle Paul who was transformed by Jesus on the road to Damacus and then became a powerful, God’s Holy Spirit led leader and church planter explains to the Roman oppressed world, “Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Romans 13:7-10, ESV
Paying what we owe might not change the lender; but it transforms us!
Paul’s practical teaching from Romans 12 of giving on oneself as an offering God daily to seek His pleasing and perfect will for us, not turns his attention to government authorities with how to relate to them. Believers are called to recognize that they “stand under” government in the design God has instituted to rule the world. Paul describes secular rulers as they should function, not as they always do function. When civil rulers overstep their proper function, the Christian is to obey God rather than human authorities.
Paul’s higher and greater point to be made is God’s love and relationship. “Love is the one debt that is never paid off. Genuine love for others inevitably leads us to obey all the other commandments that demonstrate our love for God and each other in relationship.
The parental instruction in our Proverb of the day deals primarily with morally inferior types of people in specific situations. The chapter warns against four dangers: risky loan guarantees, laziness, troublemaking, and adultery—all relationally driven. For instant, guaranteeing someone else’s debt can end in abject poverty or even slavery if you cannot pay. We are then given the example of the tiny ant who is unsupervised, driven by uncoerced self-discipline. Without any outside pressure, this tiny creature both stores and gathers provisions to see it through future days when food will be scarce!
Troublemakers, “flies in the ointment” my grandpa used to say, deliberately divides people by using subtle, manipulative actions and words. Theologically, the sevenfold catalog of what the Lord hates revolves around the inner heart showing God cares about motives, not just actions. The father’s wisdom of warning for his son is concerning his relationship with his wife and family. The warning is against adultery contrasts the price of a prostitute (a cheap meal) with the price of the adulterous wife (one’s life).
The main message is simple: Take responsibility for what is yours, and do not take responsibility for what is not. Love God. Love Others. This message is revolutionary!
Whew, this is more than enough wisdom for this day, right? Prayerfully consider the wisdom words as illustrations of the Ten Commandments given to God’s people who had been told as slaves to the Egyptians what to think and what to do for ages. They needed guidelines to walk with God again.
Come think of it, we all need these guidelines of wisdom that remind us how much God loves us and what He did to pay our debt and set us free to walk with Him in a holy relationship of love that is like no other in this world.
Lord,
Thank you, thank you, thank you for giving us life then teaching us to live Life to the full with you in relationship. Thank you for Your love that grows in us so we can love each other the way you love us—without conditions.
In Jesus Name, Amen
