The Debt is Paid in Full

"And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors...." (Matthew 6:12) For weeks, the world has focused on the battle raging in the U.S. between Democrats and Republicans, "left" and "right" politicians to find some compromise that would keep the government, and our nation, from defaulting on our debts. The House voted last night to approve a measure that will go to the Senate today, and will probably be approved, that will "save" the nation one more time from closing down. So, we will simply agree to go more in debt, so we can keep paying the interest on old debts. I'm not an accountant, but it seems to me to be a never ending cycle that is simply ignoring facing the truth of our inability as a nation to pay our debts.

But as the U.S. and the world is seemingly breathing a sign of relief over what has transpired in the past 24 hours, I cannot help but think of the spiritual debt every single human being is born with.....a debt we can never pay, a debt for which we as a race seem to be content to continue to "raise the debt limit," rather than facing our spiritual bankruptcy. The Greek word for "debt" in Matthew 6:12 has the meaning of a debt for which payment is due, as well as an offense or sin for which payment must be made, and I rejoice today in knowing that my debt, and the debt of humankind, a debt which is much more than the trillions of dollars owed by the U.S., has been marked "paid in full" by the blood of Jesus Christ.

How it must grieve the heart of my Father as He watches the vast majority of the world ignore, or refuse the gift of His Son! Just as many were filled with a sense of urgency to get the debt ceiling raised in the U.S., I want to be filled with a sense of urgency for those outside my door who cling tightly to a debt of sin, a debt that will end in their destruction. I must tell them of the One who has already paid their debt, Who paid the price so that they might be free for all eternity. Father, let me not rest in the comfort of the extravagant love of Christ while the multitudes outside my door are perishing in the debt of sin.