When we think about the word debt, it usually brings to mind something that is owed or due to another, typically money. The one who owes the debt has a responsibility to pay or repay, in return for something received. Unless the individual is pardoned, he or she is bound by contract and/or mortality until the debt is paid in full.
The Debt of Love
There is a debt every Christian has been commanded to pay and it is called the debt of love. Unlike debts related to goods or services, where accounts can be satisfied or forgiven, the debt of love is one that never will be satisfied. Due for the rest of our lives, this debt will never be stamped “paid in full.”
Keep out of debt and owe no man anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor (who practices loving others) has fulfilled the Law (relating to one’s fellowmen, meeting all its requirements, Rom. 13:18).
When we pay the debt of love, the Bible tells us we are fulfilling the requirements of God’s law, meaning loving others is the sum total of the law. It’s operating in direct obedience to God’s commandments. When love reigns supreme in our hearts, breaking the law isn’t an option for us.
Through love we will look for opportunities to bless others, not pay them back or violate them, because love constrains us (2 Cor. 5:14). It helps us control ourselves and keeps us from committing offenses against others. Because I love you, I won’t steal from you. Because I love you, I refuse to bear false witness against you, so on and so forth. Love is all that’s necessary to comply with the laws of God.
Loving As God Does
God requires His people to live a life that exemplifies who He is. He is love and He wants you and me to be known as those who express His character and nature to the world around us. When we were born again, God released His very nature within us, His love nature. As a result, we have the capacity to love the way God does. Romans 5:5 says, “...because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
Through the power of the Holy Spirit at work within us, we are well equipped with everything necessary to walk away from division or strife. We have been divinely enabled to treat others well, to forgive offenses and restore broken relationships, to be okay without an apology. We’ve been divinely enabled to let others know, all they owe is the acceptance of our love.
Every challenge we face brings with it an opportunity for us to pay the debt of love so God’s nature can be revealed through us. This is what will draw others to Christ; not just our words, but also our intentional acts of love and service. When we choose to walk with someone, to forgive them “on credit,” knowing they have proven to be untrustworthy, we position ourselves to win them to Christ. Why? Because through our actions they are afforded the opportunity to experience God’s real and unconditional love.
Choosing to Love
God loves unconditionally and because His love resides in our hearts, we have the ability to love unconditionally, no matter the situation. Yielding to the way of love is a choice. It’s our choice and when we live by it, God’s grace becomes full in our lives enabling us to impact others. When we have every reason or opportunity to hold grudges or to live in strife, yet through our own commitment choose to pay the debt of love, love will always work in our favor because love will never fail.
Love bears up under anything and everything that comes is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything (without weakening). Love never fails (never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end).
Love will never fail because God is love. It’s easy to think that taking the way of love is taking a lesser road, but on the contrary, paying the debt of love is taking the higher road because love on display reveals a true disciple of Christ. “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:35, NLT).
