“By this shall all [men] know that you are my disciples, if you love one another [if you keep showing love among yourselves].” John 13:35 (Amplified)
The credit crunch that is presently afflicting world economy has sharply brought into focus the danger of living beyond our means. Rom 13:8 enjoins us to keep out of debt. This has been possible for some and impossible for many. Being debt free is an ideal that we must work towards as Christians simply because God wants us to enjoy living in financial freedom, as the borrower is always subject to the lender. Nevertheless, there is another kind of indebtedness that we are actively encouraged to get entangled in. This is the empowering debt of love for our fellow men. This is a debt on which we have mortgaged our lives and are consequently never expected to fully repay. It means that we can never cultivate the feeling of entitlement to our individual rights or feel as if we no longer have to keep loving just because we have done so many times.
This was the principle Jesus Christ was trying to teach His disciples when they asked the question how many times do you have to forgive someone who hurts you? By answering seventy times seven in a single day, Jesus Christ wanted them and us to understand that we are never justified in refusing to love, especially since love never keeps a record of wrongs done against it.
Still on the subject of debt, Jesus Christ expatiated on our inability to pay off the debt we owe God by narrating the parable of the servant who was forgiven the much he owed, but then chose not forgive the little owed to him. The implication is that we, who have been forgiven much i.e. the mountain of debt of our sins against God, have no right to withhold forgiveness from those who require it of us. Jesus even justified the sacrificial action of the woman who anointed his feet with expensive perfume by saying that he that is forgiven much loves more. Therefore, let us understand that we owe God the equivalent of a mountain range of love that we can never repay by virtue of its immensity. This same God, knowing our shortcoming, now expects us to reflect our status of indebtedness in our relationship with our fellow men. Hence, while we cannot fully repay God, we can do penance and offset a tiny part of that debt by choosing to walk in love with our fellow men. This means forgiving their sins against us, however treacherous, as well as accommodating their frailties. Let us remember that God will only forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us and let that truth guide our relationships with our fellow men.
This truth becomes even more pertinent in the context of our relationship with each other as Christians. So for Christ’s sake, as well as ours, let us seek to walk in love with each other in the knowledge that we are all sinners saved by grace and that we are permanently indebted to God and to love each other. In any Church where love is without dissimulation, God’s glory will become pre-eminent and His light of salvation will attract those who are thirsty for His love. Let your life and relationship reflect this love.
Prayer:
Lord, as a beneficiary of your love, I choose today to walk in love and thus pay part of my mountain of debt to you. Help me know that I am a permanent debtor both to you and my fellow men and let my life reflect this fact to the glory of your name. Amen