Debt Free

Who were the good guys and who were the bad guys in your favorite TV show or movie as a kid?
Did your parents offer financial advice to you when growing up? To what degree did you heed that advice?

What comes to mind when you think about debt? Probably finances are the first topic. But there can be other kinds of debt too, can’t there? When you really help me out in a bind, I might say, “I’m indebted to you,” meaning I owe you a favor in return. If you and I belong to a group (club, organization, HOA, church, etc) there may be some expectations of membership. We might say that we owe the organization a commitment to follow the rules and expectations.

What happens when we fail to follow through on these kinds of debt? If it’s financial, we might lose our home or car. If we let a person down in some way, it may harm the friendship. We don’t have to think too long before examples of our failure to be faithful might surface. We tend to remember them, and they may be bad memories.

There is a passage in the book of Romans that comments on this tricky relationship we have with faithfulness and coming up short. We have the capacity to do both: be faithful yet come up short. It’s interesting that the passage tells us to “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.” It concludes with, “Whatever other commands there may be, are summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.”  Romans 13:8-10

I have to admit that I do harm (mistakenly or on purpose) to others sometimes. That’s when the overall guidance comes to play here. We should love one another. Sometimes loving someone means asking for forgiveness and sometimes it means offering forgiveness to someone who has harmed me. We do this because of God’s love for us.  The “debt” to love “one another” is a continuing debt we can never repay. We just keep on loving.

The Bible takes it a step further when is says, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you … Be merciful, just as your Father [God] is merciful.”  Luke 6:27-30,36

Closing Prayer:
Dear loving, heavenly Father, Your love for us is beyond comprehension. We thank you that You reach out to us in love, even though we are undeserving. Help us to extend Your love to those around us, and be an example and positive influence, even to those we find to be more challenging. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
“If the son sets you free you are free indeed!” (John 8:36) You can declare, “I’m a child of God, yes I am!”