Someone Has to Pay the Debt
Dear Champions,
The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the scripture is 1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.
There is no one on the face of the earth that can face an evaluation of how they've lived their lives! Some people say, "Here's the thing I don't understand. This idea of a debt that has to be paid for. Surely if there is a God, He can just forgive it, can't He?" No!
If someone really wrongs you, what happens? I would suggest there's a debt. There's something between you and that person who has seriously wronged you that can't be ignored. You can make them pay it down by hurting them. As you see them paying it, you can sense the debt being paid down and at a certain point it's gone.
The other thing you can do is forgive them. To forgive means that when I want to hurt someone, I don't. When I want to slice up their reputation by talking to other people, I don't. If I refuse to do that, then I'll find as time goes on that my anger slowly subsides because I'm paying the debt down myself. It's difficult! When a real wrong is done, someone has to pay the debt or the barrier is there.
We have wronged God and our neighbor, and there is a debt that must be paid. When Jesus Christ cried, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me," the Father paid the debt! Jesus had to die!
Champions, have a great week!-David Vining
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