GUEST POST from Don – Debtor’s Ethic

DEBTOR’S ETHIC

I don’t like to be indebted to anyone for any reason.  There is no loan I haven’t paid off early.  We financed half of a new HVAC system last summer instead of robbing savings.  We had a year to repay.  It is paid in full after 5 months.  If I took out the loan, I will repay.  I’m not a deadbeat debtor.

I am grateful for the financial assistance of loans.  They helped us get houses.  They helped us pay for college.  They helped us buy cars.  Loans can be very helpful.

They are also obligations which steal from the future to pay for the past.  That’s just truth.

Now to Switch Gears:

There is only one debt I can never repay.  God’s gift of grace.  I WANT to repay it, but I cannot.  Every effort on my part uses the resources God provides.  It is like asking God for the money to pay him back.  That literally would put me even more in debt to Him.  So, the more I attempt to repay Him, the deeper in debt I become.

Tithes are not repayment.  He gave me the strength to earn that money.
Good deeds are not repayment.  He gave me the desire to do good.  He also gave examples to follow.
Faithfulness is not repayment.  I don’t “earn” anything by doing exactly what He requires me to do.
Going to church is not repayment.  It also is for my benefit.
I can’t even earn any credit toward the debt with a 5-star Google review.

What am I left with?  

A debt I can’t repay … and … gratefulness that He paid it for me.

I am grateful and frustrated.  God does not need anything from me, yet I need everything from Him.  It is an unbalanced relationship.

If I make a vow, that’s different.  I must fulfill my promise.  “Get me out of this problem and I’ll give $1,000 to the church.”  If He gets me out of it, then I have a promise to fulfill.

However, salvation, forgiveness of sins, God’s promise of eternal life with Him … I cannot return those favors.

He chose to do those long before I accepted His offer.  Whether I trusted Him or not, He already loved me.  I know that love is not the same thing as forgiveness.  However, when I take Him at His word and ask for forgiveness He plants His love within by giving me part of Himself, His Holy Spirit.

God goes BIG on everything.  If He had merely made the sun, the earth, and the moon it would have been more than enough for humans.  We would never have known the possibility of stars.  But He made an entire solar system with lots of planets, moons, asteroid belts.  Then He made the entire Milky Way galaxy.  Then all the other galaxies.  He could have created 17 types of trees, but there are over 60,000 varieties.  He could have populated the oceans with 100 varieties of creatures, but there are in excess of 230,000 species of animal there.

He also went BIG on gifts for humans.  The biggest being salvation, but it in no way stops there.  No  human has ever paid God back for the sunshine He provides.  It is impossible to repay Him for water and food, shelter, clothing, and everything else He has provided with plants, minerals, animals, and the water cycle.

My point should be clear:  We CANNOT pay God back for a single thing.  Even if we could He doesn’t need anything from us.  He existed just fine before humans were brought into being.  He doesn’t need our love, our devotion, our worship, or our money.  We, on the other hand, need the very oxygen he provides in order to live.

The crazy thing is that God is not pushy about it.  He does not constantly bring up our uselessness.  He merely asks that we obey Him.  Scripture tells us clearly that the “yoke is easy.”  It is easy because He is doing most of the work.  Just do as He says and plow a straight furrow.  

Copyright 2025 Donald Whelpley

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