ETERNAL DEBT

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.
© God’s Breath Publications

 

We all owe debt of some sort or another. It may simply be a small-unpaid balance on a Nordstrom, Dick’s Sporting Goods or J.C. Penney charge card or it may be a huge four or five digit bill on a Visa or MasterCard. Possibly you have a car or house loan that you are still paying on? Maybe you owe Uncle George that $50 you borrowed when you went to Disneyland? Whatever your financial status in life there usually is some degree of debt that you are always striving to pay off. When we face such debt we attempt to make as large a payment as possible on it so that this financial burden can be lifted from our shoulders. Most financial debt can eventually be paid off as long as we set aside sufficient funds on a regular basis to apply towards it.

 

What if I were to told you that as a Christian you have a debt that can never be paid off? What if I told you that this debt is an eternal debt? What if I informed you that God requires this debt to be paid for the rest of your life? Your first reaction might be to say, “My salvation is a free gift from God so don’t tell me that I owe a debt to God!” I would respond by saying, “You are perfectly correct. You do not owe God anything for your salvation. The debt you owe is to someone else.” You want scriptural proof of this eternal debt you owe? Here’s the evidence of your eternal, never-ending, continuing debt.

 

Romans 13:8 “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.”

 

Here God instructs us that it is good to have no outstanding debts, except for one, the debt to love one another. God wishes for us to understand that He did not save us for nothing. He did not save us simply to keep us from going to hell. He did not save us just so we could feel secure that we would live eternally. He did not save us so that we could serve ourselves. He saved us for the task of loving others. First we are commanded to love Him with all our heart, mind and soul (Matthew 22:37). Secondly we are to love others (Matthew 22:39). God loves us and asks us to follow His example. One frequent command we are told in scripture is to love and minister to others. We are especially commanded to love other Christians, our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

 

In John 13:34-35 Jesus tells us that He has given us a new command, to love one another. If you ever do a word study on “love” as it relates to other believers in Christ you will be amazed at the numbers of verses that reference this four-letter word. Below are just a few portions of scripture that encourage us to love each other.

 

John 15:12-13 “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this; that he lay down his life for his friends.”

 

1 Peter 1:22-23 “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.”

 

1 John 3:11-12 “This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.”

 

1 John 3:23 “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.”

 

1 John 4:7-8 “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”

 

This is only a sampling of scriptures that command and encourage us to love other Christians. God knows that His family, the church on earth, needs love to sustain itself. His love sustains us spiritually, but our relationships with each other require us to express love in a multitude of ways for the church body to remain healthy. While it may be easy for us to accept the command, “Love one another.” It is often hard for us to understand how to fulfill this command. How are we supposed to love one another?

 

Again scripture comes to our rescue. God knows without specific instruction we very likely will ignore the debt of love we owe one another. We are instructed in scripture to avoid slandering one another (James 4:11), to bear each other’s burdens (Galatians 6:2), forgive one another (Colossians 3:13-14) and yes, confront one another in a loving manner when required (Matthew 18). We are to speak the truth in love to each another (Ephesians 4:15) as well as encourage one another in good works (Hebrews 10:24).

 

We’re all members of God’s family as Christians and in order to love God with all our heart, mind and soul, we must love each other as well. In order to grow in our spiritual maturity and bring others into the Kingdom we must love each other. Vince Lombardi the famous football coach once said, “If you’re going to play together as a team, you’ve got to care for one another. You’ve got to love each other.” Vince Lombardi knew what it took to win. He knew his players needed complete dedication to each other to remain an undefeated team. God knows what is needed for us to succeed in life as well. We must love Him and we must love each other. The key ingredient to loving others is seeking to be led by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16, 25) and love God with all our heart, mind and soul. There is no other way to continue to pay on the debt of love we owe each other. It is not within our own power to love others. We can make attempts, but eventually we will come to the end of our own resources. People will drive us to our limits, push our buttons and tempt us into anger. Loving others with the power of God is the only limitless source of love we can draw upon to fulfill the commandment, “Love one another.”

 

Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”