For years, Dave and I have worked hard to be out-of-debt. Let me tell you it has been a real challenge. So a few days ago, while I was reading through the last chapters of Romans, these words lit up the page like a search light.
“Let love be your only debt.” Romans 13:8 CEV
Now you may think that Paul was talking about the debt of love we owe to God but he wasn’t. That would be completely understandable. God’s love for us is unconditional – it doesn’t vary because of our goodness or lack thereof. God’s love never fails and is always the same.
Paul was writing about our love for others.
“Don’t run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along. The law code—don’t sleep with another person’s spouse, don’t take someone’s life, don’t take what isn’t yours, don’t always be wanting what you don’t have, and any other “don’t” you can think of—finally adds up to this: Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can’t go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love.” Romans 13:8-10 MSG
Did you notice that the things Paul said we wouldn’t do if we loved others were taken directly from the ten commandments that Moses delivered to the children of Israel hundreds of years before? If we love others we won’t lie, steal, or bring them any harm.
Paul says this in his letter to the Christians living in Corinth:
“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. 5 Love is not rude, it is not selfish, and it cannot be made angry easily. Love does not remember wrongs done against it. 6 Love is never happy when others do wrong, but it is always happy with the truth. 7 Love never gives up on people. It never stops trusting, never loses hope, and never quits. 8 Love will never end.” I Corinthians 13:4-8 ERV
That’s a big debt! We can’t fulfill it by ourselves but we can with God’s help.
“For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” Romans 5:5b NLT
May I encourage you to go into debt, deeply in debt. Make it your goal to be indebted to love!
When I met Dez, she would sit down and immediately pay bills when she got paid. “Ok so I have this much for gas, food and fun till I get paid again.” To meet someone dedicated and as strict as she was/is a rarity for her age. Now that we’ve been married, four kids, we both speak a lot about, “what can we pay off next?” Sometimes we get a check in the mail saying we’ve paid to much. Bonus! I watch my credit score daily and see it rise to a level I’d never thought possible. But I see a similarity with checking my credit score daily to checking on my wife daily. If I see my credit score go up then I’m paying my debt on time, if I see it go down, I didn’t pay enough. Maybe I’ll ask her one day that if she was my credit report where would my score be at with her? I liked this devotional today. Thanks Kristi!
Glad you were able to make the connection between financial and personal. God’s word is so practical.