Today I am recycling a blog that I first published two years ago. Dave and I have been in the mountains on a week’s vacation. It has been so good to get away, unplugged and refresh. As you know last time we went to the mountains we had very poor internet service, the same holds true on this trip so I took time before we left to schedule remote postings of my morning blogs. So that explains why I am reusing a teaching from a couple years back.
“Yesterday I spent a good portion of the day working on bookkeeping. Evaluating some things and determining if they were financially profitable based on the time expended.
Have you ever put together a profit and loss statement? Listing your assests and liabilities can certainly be worthwhile in determining how you should spend your time and your money.
So let’s get down to the bottom line. What do you owe? That’s the question the Apostle Paul was addressing as I read Romans 13.
“8 You should owe nothing to anyone, except that you will always owe love to each other. The person who loves others has done all that the law commands. 9 The law says, “You must not commit adultery, you must not murder anyone, you must not steal, you must not want what belongs to someone else.” All these commands and all other commands are really only one rule: “Love your neighbor the same as you love yourself.” 10 Love doesn’t hurt others. So loving is the same as obeying all the law.
11 I say this because you know that we live in an important time. Yes, it is now time for you to wake up from your sleep. Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is almost finished. The day is almost here. So we should stop doing whatever belongs to darkness. We should prepare ourselves to fight evil with the weapons that belong to the light. 13 We should live in a right way, like people who belong to the day. We should not have wild parties or be drunk. We should not be involved in sexual sin or any kind of immoral behavior. We should not cause arguments and trouble or be jealous. 14 But be like the Lord Jesus Christ, so that when people see what you do, they will see Christ. Don’t think about how to satisfy the desires of your sinful self.” Romans 13:8-14 ERV
Owe no one anything…nothing except love!
The desire to live debt free is admirable and is one worth pursuing. An even greater goal is to live a life of loving people, not with an human selfish love but with the same love that Jesus shows us.
So let’s look at that bottom line again, the P&L Statement.
” For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark 8:36 KJV
Let love be your daily ambition!