The Debt We Owe - Episode 9-37, September 9, 2019

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.

Bill-paying weekend, don't you hate it? Of course, the banks and creditors have made it so much easier than it used to be. Maybe that's why, as individuals and as a nation, we are in so much more debt than we've ever been. On bill-paying weekend you used to stack all the bills on the table, pull out the checkbook and painfully write out that check to each creditor, stuff the check and bill stub into an envelope, write your return address in the upper left corner, put a stamp in the top right corner, and then grab the next bill to do the same again. 

Now, it's just point and click, and in about two minutes, all the bills are paid with the bill-pay convenience most banks give you today, and most creditors are happy to subscribe. In fact, creditors will happily enroll you in auto-pay to let you no longer worry about even doing the point and click business. They'll just collect the minimum amount due so they can collect the maximum amount of interest. Progress – maybe. 

We are up to our ears in debt as a nation, and it's easy for us to swallow that because most of us across the country are up to our ears in debt individually. It's become a normal part of life. Finance a car, mortgage a house, finance school, clothes, vacations, even groceries. We are a debt ridden society. It's no wonder we let Congress get away with putting us in trillion-dollar debt. So, if we were to pay off the debt today, my two-year-old granddaughter's bill would be about $65,600, as would yours, and your neighbor's and every other person living in the US. Pretty sobering when you think about what we've done in those terms, doesn't it? $65,600 – not per household, but person. Do you have a family of four kids, five? Now the bill is over $325,000. Sorry about that. 

I digress. What got me thinking about bills and debt and those things are tied to the scriptures from the lectionary. In Luke 14, Jesus talked about the owner making sure he had enough money to build the house before building or else people would make fun of him when he ran out of money after the foundation was done. Or the king would count the cost if he only had 10,000 soldiers against his enemies 20,000 soldiers. He'd send a delegate to try to start some peace negotiations instead of losing his kingdom in battle. 

Paul writes to Philemon and asks him to take back his runaway slave, Onesimus as a brother without punishment. Under Roman law, Philemon has the right to punish Onesimus any way he chooses, up to and including death. But Paul reminds Philemon of the debt he owes Paul for bringing life to him through the gospel. Paul calls in the debt and asks Philemon to treat his slave as a Christian brother. Hard words in Roman culture. 

Then we come to the scriptures from the psalmist in chapter 139:

For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.

My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.

Have you thought about the fact that God made you with a specific purpose in mind? It started at the very beginning with Adam and Eve. He gave Adam the charge of naming every plant and animal. In the ancient world, naming something or someone gave it purpose, meaning, usefulness. So, God entrusted to Adam the task of giving purpose to everything else he had created. 

Why would God give such a monumental task to Adam? Because he made us in his image to be co-reagents, stewards of the world he created. This place is his world; we are its caretakers. Our purpose is to propagate the world and be caretakers of it. We haven't done such a great job of doing the task God gave us to do, but that is why we are here. 

What does that have to do with debt? We owe God everything. We owe him the life he gave us. We owe him the talents he built into us. We owe him for the sustenance he provided in his creative acts that we might survive on this third rock from the sun. We owe him for the order he brings to the chaos around us. How can you put a price on what he has done for us? We owe him everything. 

Compare what God has done with the other debt you might have. Is your soul worth more than your house? Your car? Those vacations or presents or nights out that still plague your credit cards? How about that $65,600 the government has racked up for you? Is what God has given you worth more than that? I expect the answer is pretty simple. 

For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.

My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. 

No matter what your state in life at the moment, God gives life and breath and hope. His kingdom is here for all who are bold enough to receive it. When we do, he gives his Spirit to those who ask. He empowers us to live a life of hope because we know this world is not the end. This world is in labor pains of giving birth to a new earth, a new heaven. One in which chaos and evil and pain and suffering will be removed. We will once again be positioned to carry out the task God intended for us from the beginning, to tend to his holy place. A new earth where he comes to commune with mere humans in the cool of the day. Where we can bask in his presence and enjoy his company as caretakers of the space he allows us to share with him throughout eternity.

Do I have debts to pay? Oh, yes! I realize it every month at bill-paying time. But I also know I have debts to pay every time I read God's word, view his handiwork, hear his creation sing his praises, share with him my innermost thoughts. God made me with a purpose. He gives me life to fulfill that purpose. Each day brings me closer to the hope of spending eternity with him in a renewed world. I just need to keep living for him and obeying his commands. 

Is it easy? Not in this world. There are lots of conflicts and competing voices to filter out. Is it impossible? No. God gives us his help, his Spirit, his empowerment when we trust him with all we have and all we are. Is it worth it? Absolutely. There is no better rest than knowing regardless of my present circumstances; my eternal destiny will be with him. 

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day. 

 The lectionary selections on this site come from the Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005. Consultation on Common Texts, Augsburg Fortress Publishers. Reproduced by permission.