By: Jim Umlauf
When I did singles ministry here at Grace, a frequent item of disclosure would come up at some point in a serious dating relationship: the amount of personal debt each party carried. This was an increasingly important issue as credit cards became easier to get, and as the culture shifted toward a general numbness over owing someone money. In some cases, it put a real strain on the relationship, i.e., “Wow, I get this awesome girl and her $18,000 obligation.” A single woman with excellent credit might have suddenly realized that her financial judiciousness was now going to be mingled with a fiancé’s bad choices.
People don’t brag about debt; in fact, most find too much of it embarrassing. It’s also scary. I look at the amount of money still owed on my home and it’s daunting. I certainly don’t boast about it.
Spurgeon once preached:
“The more you have, the more you are in debt to God. You should not be proud of that which renders you a debtor.”
Do you have a lot? Maybe it’s stuff. Or money. Or money and stuff. Perhaps it’s a keen mind, or personal beauty. It might be a good reputation, gorgeous children, or the car or house everyone else dreams about.
It’s debt, bro. You’re flat broke.
But forget about the temporal. The God who began a good work in you and will be faithful to complete it spilled his own Son’s blood to buy you. You’re (thankfully) not even your own. Your life was given to you. Grace is a gift that forever makes you a debtor to mercy alone.
So the more you have, the more you’re in debt. That’s reality.
Fall down and worship God.
