I am a 59 year old man who was convicted of my sins and pleasures about a month ago. I was smoking pot to escape reality and always feeling guilt and emptiness afterward. I also worked at a place where God would not have approved. Since then I have quit the job, repented of the drugs and turned back to Jesus knowing that He loves me & also knowing He expects total obedience to walk with Him. So I fear Him too.
I'd like to get anyone who is interested's opinion on this matter. On the morning I quit my job, after working the midnight shift, my next door neighbor, Ed, came over asking for money. Ed is a handicapped man who has a 2016 truck (from some kind of unknown money settlement) and has leukemia and has no legs. But he also makes his living looking for scrap metal to sell for recycling. Well on this particular morning, Ed tells me he somehow lost his key to his truck at the local college a few days before and was forewarned his truck would be towed off the premises, meaning he'd pay storing charges wherever they moved it to. A dealership said that a key could be made for $285. So I went with him to the college and looked to see if I could find the key and couldn't find it. I go to my bank deciding to get some cash so his truck could be towed to the dealership and told him that was a freebie on me.
Needless to say, I had to use my credit card to pay off his debt which went from $285 to $471. The dealership made the key, Ed seemed appreciative, and I told him God deserved the glory for what transpired. But I also stated, I would like to be paid back the $471 and if he could pay me $100 a month, it would help me in getting my credit card back to zero over some months. Ed told me he would pay me $200 at the end of the week. Since then, no word from Ed.
I know it's taught in Scripture you are supposed to love your neighbor above yourself. I do not have a job at present and am relying on Jesus to direct me in where to go. But there is a conflict going on inside of me, and there has been lots of anger and a degree of hatred towards him in my thoughts about the possibility of him having no intentions of paying me back. I have been deceived many times by the devil and these thoughts disturb me and I pray about accepting the fact I will have to pay off his debt, which was really due to his own negligence. What's to stop him from coming back later on down the road saying he can't pay his rent? I've considered taking him to small claims court but that might take months to get into effect and even then, if he is broke, all I have accomplished is wasting money on filing a lawsuit and having him subpoenaed.
Jesus knows my intentions and thoughts and I wonder if I am being tested. From a Biblical perspective I'd like to hear from you what you would do. I could have told him "tough luck" when he first came over, but didn't. And if he comes over again asking for money, what would God want me to do?
I'd like to get anyone who is interested's opinion on this matter. On the morning I quit my job, after working the midnight shift, my next door neighbor, Ed, came over asking for money. Ed is a handicapped man who has a 2016 truck (from some kind of unknown money settlement) and has leukemia and has no legs. But he also makes his living looking for scrap metal to sell for recycling. Well on this particular morning, Ed tells me he somehow lost his key to his truck at the local college a few days before and was forewarned his truck would be towed off the premises, meaning he'd pay storing charges wherever they moved it to. A dealership said that a key could be made for $285. So I went with him to the college and looked to see if I could find the key and couldn't find it. I go to my bank deciding to get some cash so his truck could be towed to the dealership and told him that was a freebie on me.
Needless to say, I had to use my credit card to pay off his debt which went from $285 to $471. The dealership made the key, Ed seemed appreciative, and I told him God deserved the glory for what transpired. But I also stated, I would like to be paid back the $471 and if he could pay me $100 a month, it would help me in getting my credit card back to zero over some months. Ed told me he would pay me $200 at the end of the week. Since then, no word from Ed.
I know it's taught in Scripture you are supposed to love your neighbor above yourself. I do not have a job at present and am relying on Jesus to direct me in where to go. But there is a conflict going on inside of me, and there has been lots of anger and a degree of hatred towards him in my thoughts about the possibility of him having no intentions of paying me back. I have been deceived many times by the devil and these thoughts disturb me and I pray about accepting the fact I will have to pay off his debt, which was really due to his own negligence. What's to stop him from coming back later on down the road saying he can't pay his rent? I've considered taking him to small claims court but that might take months to get into effect and even then, if he is broke, all I have accomplished is wasting money on filing a lawsuit and having him subpoenaed.
Jesus knows my intentions and thoughts and I wonder if I am being tested. From a Biblical perspective I'd like to hear from you what you would do. I could have told him "tough luck" when he first came over, but didn't. And if he comes over again asking for money, what would God want me to do?
