Can debt ever be a good thing?
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.
Romans 13:8 (NIV)
No one likes to be in debt but, sadly, it seems to be the way we live in the modern world. In the UK personal debts are increasing at an alarming rate with young people aged between 18-34 years having the highest non-mortgage debt.1 As interest rates begin to rise this can be a very scary scenario for many who may face bankruptcy and hardship in the years ahead.
With this in mind, it struck me as odd that Paul appears to be telling us to continue in debt while at the same time telling us, ‘Let no debt remain’. What is going on?
Paul encourages us not to get into financial debt and to pay what we owe as soon as we can. By continuing to use the same language of debt when speaking about love, Paul is teaching us that when we accept Jesus as our saviour, we are freely given God’s grace, and our debt of sin is completely wiped out. It’s as if the debt never existed.
What relief we feel when we make the final payment on a loan and that burden no longer weighs on us. How much more so when we are freed from a debt that we could never pay off. Paying the debt of sin is not humanly possible, not even for the richest person on earth. Instead of death (Romans 6:23), God forgives our sin, and blesses us with newness of life. Knowing our debt has been completely wiped out enables us to respond to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit with heartfelt gratitude and love. But something else wonderful happens too. We not only love God, but we are moved to love all people. We proactively love others because they are made in the image of the God, who saved us, and it’s his love inside of us which compels us to love them.
We shouldn’t look on others and decide whether to love them or not based on what we think of them. Instead, we should look at the grace we have received because of Jesus, and understand we owe our neighbours a debt of love. We love them no matter their background, behaviour, political affiliation, skin colour, language spoken, or IQ. This debt we gladly take on. Additionally, loving our neighbour is one of the primary ways we demonstrate our love for God. It is through human relationships that God’s love is put into action. His love should motivate us to get our primary focus off ourselves and instead look to be a blessing to him and our neighbours.
In life our financial debts are never far from our minds. The debt of loving our neighbour should be likewise. However, this second type of debt leads to freedom, fulfilment, and great happiness in Christ. It fills us up instead of depleting us. Let’s take on this debt with gladness.
1 https://moneynerd.co.uk/average-personal-debt/
Prayer
Our great God, thank you for paying off our debt of sin, and for blessing us with the freedom to love you and all those we come into contact with each day. Help us to keep this debt in our mind, and to be motivated to reach out and love others. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Study by Jackie Mill
Jackie Mill is a minister in Grace Communion International and Co-Regional Pastor for Scotland and Ireland.
Local congregation:
GCI, Edinburgh – Edinburgh has a zoom service at the moment. For details email the local congregational contact below.
Local congregational contact:
Peter Mill
Email: edinburgh@gracecom.church
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church