Our Debt Of Love

-January 15, 2023-

Good morning, happy Lord’s Day,

“Owe no man anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.”

(Romans 13:8).

America has a debt problem. It starts with our government. The national debt is astronomical! And it increases by the day, the hour, and the minute. Individual Americans are spending more and more on credit cards, and defaulting on their payments. Many file bankruptcy every year. Student debt is out of sight. Most debts are bad for consumers. Proverbs 22:7 says, “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.”

Not all debt is bad. Mortgages, car loans, and no interest loans are actually a good thing inmost cases. Often it is better to buy a home rather than rent or lease, as long as one can afford the payments; which sometimes less than renting and builds equity. We as believers in Christ should exercise prudence, self-control, and restraint in our spending. A good rule of stewardship is to make sure you can afford it and to pay cash. Paul tells us, ‘Owe no man anything…”

Paul gives the one exception: …except to love one another.” The debt of love is the best debt. Loving one another is one of the great themes in the NT. Our love for each other is based on Christ’s love for us. Jesus said in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

We owe a debt of love to our Lord. The way we repay it is by obedience to our Savior and serving Him. We also repay the debt by loving each other. The outworking of love is sacrificial and from the heart. John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, wrote, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us and And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”

Let us then be cautious in taking on every debt except the debt of love. It is one we will never regret nor pay off this side of heaven. Have a loving day. nor can we. Stay safe and healthy.

In the bonds of love,

Dean