September 3rd Weekly Word

The Debt of Love
“Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8).
Debt can feel crushing. I’ve experienced the overwhelming reality of outstanding credit card balances and loans. But I also understand how liberating it feels to pay them off; it’s like an inner weight has been lifted.
And this is what Paul exhorts believers toward in the first part of our upcoming epistle reading.
But he also talks about another kind of debt – one we should always be paying toward but never paying off. And that is the debt of love that we owe each other.
In God’s economy this debt is different than financial debt because the love that Paul says we owe one another is not crushing but liberating. You see, by loving each other in the way that God has called and equipped us to, we are freed from a third kind of debt – the debt of resentment, bitterness, backbiting, and strife.
Peter confirms this in his first epistle: “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” Love then allows us to discharge the debts of others. And in so doing, both creditor and debtor are free.
But here’s the key – this kind of love flows from the one to whom we owe all things; the one who first loved us; the one who demonstrated his love by giving himself up on our behalf. Only when we regularly contemplate and experience that love – the love of God in Christ – can we extend such love to others.
So let’s do that by abiding in Jesus and allowing him to increase our love for him, each other, and those whom he’s called us to serve.
"O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen”
(The Book of Common Prayer, pg. 230)
Darin+