“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:8
I mentioned the other day that I had finally gotten around to cleaning off my desk. Now, as I sat there, I could at least SEE the desktop, which honestly made me smirk with a little pride! Suddenly, my eyes were drawn to the stuff I had stacked upright at the BACK of the desk. If the stuff on the top had been my ‘GET TO’ pile, THIS area had become my ‘DON’T EVER FORGET’ collection. As I gazed at one particular envelope, something in the back of my mind sent an alarm to the front… and I freaked!!!
You know how it goes because all of us have done it. I held in my hand a bill that was SUPPOSED to have been paid a MONTH ago! In the 30 years I have live in this house it only happened 2 other times. Once, we came home to no electricity. Another time… no water! BOTH times I felt like a fool trying to EXPLAIN myself to the people in charge of collections. Even as I tried to excuse my failure over the phone, I could sense them rolling their eyes and thinking, “yea, yea Mr. Loser… I’ve heard that one before!” Regardless of the excuse, I had become a bona fide ‘infractor!’
I clearly remembered paying this months bills WEEKS ago. But for some reason I had ‘held off’ on this one. OOPS! And SILLY! Because with online banking, paying bills in 2019 is rather simple. When the bill comes, I can easily ‘log on’ to my account, enter the amount and hit ‘Pay!’ I can do it from my phone, and for MOST accounts, I can even set up ‘Auto-pay’ so I don’t have to SEE a bill to worry about forgetting. Then my thoughts turned to goats!
In the Old Testament, payment for sin came like my utility bills… varying and often! One sin may require the blood of a dove. Another a goat… or even a bull! One thing was for certain, no matter how much blood you paid, you were guaranteed MORE would be required… and SOON! My silly mind tried to figure out how the Israelites might have worked out ‘Auto-pay’ for goat sacrifices… which became too gruesome… even for me! Then I thought of Jesus!
When Jesus Christ died on the cross over 2000 years ago He “Paid In Full” ALL of my debts! Past, present and future! Which takes ‘Auto-pay’ to a whole new level! Did yo uget that? Jesus paid ‘ALL of my debts,’ except ONE! As I wrote that, my head dropped in sorrow because, loving YOU is an outstanding debt that I have, too often, forgotten to pay! But as quickly as sorrow came…it went! Because my loving Lord assured me that there will be NO ‘Past Due’ notice with this debt. His love to me, and THROUGH me will NEVER be shut off! It’s as if He hands me His credit Card and says… “Let me help you with this!” And friends… that is one card you NEVER want to ‘leave home without!’
