"Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are debtors." — Romans 8:12
Christ Paid Our Debt—We Owe Him Everything
As God’s created ones, we all owe Him everything—to obey Him with all our body, soul, and strength. We have all broken His commands, and because of this, we owe Him more than we could ever pay back. But now think about this amazing truth: if you are a Christian, you don’t owe anything to God’s justice anymore, because Christ has paid your debt for you. Because Jesus paid such a huge price for us, we now owe even more to love. I owe everything to God’s grace—His unearned kindness and mercy that forgives—but I owe nothing to His justice, because He will never demand payment for a debt that has already been paid. When Christ said, “It is finished!” He meant that everything His people owed was forever erased from heaven’s record book. Christ, to the uttermost, has satisfied what justice demanded; the account is closed, the list of our debts is nailed to the cross, and the receipt is given. We don’t owe anything to God’s justice anymore.
Reflect on What You Owe to God
But here’s the incredible part: because we don’t owe God in that way anymore, we owe Him ten times more in another way!
Christian, pause and consider for a moment. How much do you owe to God’s kingly power! How much do you owe to His perfect love—He who gave His own Son to die for you. Reflect on how much you owe to His forgiving grace: even after you’ve done wrong ten thousand times, He loves you just as much as ever. Think about what you owe to His mighty strength: He brought you from spiritual death to life; He keeps your spiritual life strong; He stops you from falling; and even though a thousand enemies have lined your path, He helps you keep moving forward. Consider what you owe to His unchanging nature: though you have changed a thousand times, He stays exactly the same.
You owe as much as you possibly can to every part of who God is. To God, you owe yourself and everything you have—offer yourself as a living sacrifice, a gift to Him. It’s the only response that makes sense.