Proverbs 6:1-5
“My son, if you have signed onto a debt with a friend…if you have entered into an agreement with a stranger…you have become trapped with the words of your mouth.”
There are two separate combinations in these verses of scripture that have proven to be sure traps over and over again, even in today’s society, “…signed onto a debt with a friend …” and “…entered into an agreement with a stranger …” Friends and strangers have nothing in common. They are as opposite as light and darkness. It is amazing how the enemy continually uses the infatuation of the unknown to seduce and entrap us to our own destruction. It has been a weakness of mankind, even from the very beginning of time.
The first phrase, “…signed onto a debt with a friend …” deals with business or financial transactions with a friend. I have heard the saying for many years, and know it to be true from personal experience. If you have a friend that you would like to keep, don’t get involved in business with that friend! Close friends are meant to be nothing more than friends, companions, and that relationship should have no other obligation to carry, other than that of friendship.
I believe that there is a difference between acquaintances and friends. Loose acquaintances have more flexibility than that of friendship, although there is such a thing as friendly acquaintances. Doctors have cordial and friendly relationships with their particular pharmaceutical representatives. However, they are not involved in deep friendships with these individuals. True friendship in itself is a commitment that is sometimes difficult to maintain without all the other pressures of business and debt attached to them. True friendship always involves some sort of commitment or covenant.
The apostle Paul exhorts us in Romans 13:8 saying, “Owe no man anything, but to love one another…” We could as well say, owe no friend anything, but to love that friend, and be committed to serving his or her better good. This is our one most important obligation, not only to one another, but also to the world around us. It is the one sign that gives the world assurance of our connection with Christ. John 13:35 “…by this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another…” If we can be in covenant and commitment with one another, we probably have a good capacity to be committed to Christ. 1 John 4:20 “if a man say, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he that loves not a brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”
All of the life that God has intended for us to enjoy is connected and accessed through our commitment and covenant. Millions of people live unfulfilled lives because they do not understand this concept. Life between a man and a woman is fulfilled in marriage. Life between friends is also fulfilled through covenant friendship. Life with God is made complete by our covenant with Him through the blood of Christ His Son.
The next phrase “…entered into an agreement with a stranger …” is also a great contradiction of proper sensibility. Why would anyone make a commitment to a person that they know absolutely nothing about? The only way that this could possibly happen is through a deceptive conversation or series of conversations. It is kind of like when you go to a used car lot, and the salesman tells you how wonderful a certain car is. He knows every fault the car possesses, however that information most of the time is not divulged. Believe me when I say that the salesman did not buy the car on a pure whim. If he did, he wouldn’t continue to be in business very long afterward. It is only after you have signed on the dotted line, paid for the car, and driven it for a couple of weeks that you begin to realize what you have done. You have stricken hands with a stranger named a 1998 model “lemon”.
This brings us to our next point. The wise father with probably previous experience in the distasteful matter says, “You have been trapped with the words of your mouth. You are taken with the words of your mouth!” In those days, and even during our own early history, covenants were made with the “word of your mouth” in the presence of witnesses. In other words, he is saying that you have now made a commitment to a stranger with your words in front of witnesses, words that you will live to regret haven spoken. You will be bound and snared by that covenant. How many of you have let the vacuum salesman talk you into paying a load of money for the latest and greatest on the market, only later to learn that it did not work any better than the one you had before? You are left with a feeling of having been somewhat robbed, and a debt that you will be paying for at 22% interest over the next 36 months.
We must be careful what kind of exchanges we are making through relationships. It is said that our lives are a direct result of our decisions. However, I believe that our lives mainly are also a direct result of our decisions concerning relationship and covenants.