Owe

I owe.
I owe.
So off to work I go…

Have you ever heard that little ditty or muttered it as you ran out the door hoping for favor with green traffic lights all the way?

In America, we have generations who have been weaned on plastic. I can remember the jolt of reality when my children told me that I didn’t need dollars I had the little card. I needed that jolt because we needed to teach them about debt and how to live free of it.

Debt is normal in out society. Even our elected government leaders (red and blue) have allowed our country to operate in a deep hole of debt.

However, in our family, debt is not normal. I was taught by my parents that I should not owe anyone anything. I was taught that if I allowed someone to borrow from me I should consider it a gift rather than a loan. Can you imagine how much offense has been avoided by an attitude of gifting rather than loaning?

“Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.”
‭‬‬ Romans 13:8

As I joined the Church community in my adult years though, I heard over and over that my life embodied a debt I could never pay. My sin, the sin I was born into, was a death sentence from the beginning.

But Jesus took my death penalty for me on the cross. He paid my debt. The debt I could never pay off because the debt of sin could only be redeemed by perfect blood. What a sobering realization!

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

Elvina M. Hall

I’ve tried though. Have you?

I’ve tried to help Jesus with my debt. So many days, too numerous to count, I catch myself trying to pay Him back. I catch myself in stinking’ thinkin’ as if I could be good enough or do enough to satisfy the payment Jesus made for me.

Maybe I just need to dwell in the truth I was taught by my parents. If I allow someone to borrow something from me I should consider it a gift. The borrower owes me nothing because I gave it as a gift. Perhaps I should choose to daily live in the truth that this was first God’s idea.

God gave His Son, Jesus Christ, as a gift. Jesus , God Himself, was my substitute for the death penalty I owed. I, in a way, borrowed His atonement, but He gave it as a gift. I wonder if Jesus sees me as owing nothing? Could He see me simply as a receiver of His grace?

I owe.
I owe.
So to Jesus I go.

He paid.
He paid.
And no more do I owe.

I’m free.
I’m free.
Love for Him and others from me I prayed 

Will pour abundant because He paid.

Eyes on Jesus and Shine,

Lisa