Debt to Love

 Over ten years ago (years are really running all together for me now, so it might be closer to 20...), I gave Dan a book by financial guru, Dave Ramsey.  I can't quite remember exactly if it was Total Money Makeover or Financial Freedom.  The truth is that it doesn't really matter which one it was.  They are all basically about the same principle: living a debt-free life.  Needless to say, Dan was hooked! 

Dan saw Ramsey's ideas as a source of inspiration.  Though the concepts are based on common sense budgeting techniques...it does take an act of tremendous determination to enact them.  Dan has had and continues to have such strong resolve...me...on the other hand...not so much.

"The borrower is slave to the lender"! Dan would repeat to me like a mantra, over and over and over and over again this portion of Proverbs 22: 7 which is Ramsey's guiding principle.  And I would sneer back at him, and call him "Budget Nazi."  Yeah...those early years to financial freedom were lots of fun!

In my mind, we were freeing ourselves from debt, but enslaving ourselves to a rigid plan that didn't allow for living...which caused me to ponder whether we could really, truly be absolutely free in this life...

This past Sunday...our Pastor read a portion of Romans 13 that contained a huge revelation to me: Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13: 8)

I'm still pondering this statement.  Paul is proclaiming that, indeed, we must be debt-free in this world.  However, he is also reminding us that there is one debt we would never be able to settle: the debt to love one another.  He is telling us that this is a "continuing debt."  It is a debt we will always owe for as long as we live. 

People call the Dave Ramsey's Radio Show to proclaim themselves financially liberated.  Young and old alike scream at the top of their voices, over the phone: "I'm debt FREE!!!"  Well, Paul is telling us that we will never be able to declare that we are done paying the debt to love as long as we walk on this side of eternity.

Jesus paid it all, absolutely.  But He also charged us with this command:  

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.” Matthew 22: 34-46

This is why Paul tells us that love fulfills the law.  Jesus is Love and He fulfills the law...and He is in us...therefore, we cannot stop giving love, because He, who lives in us, is Love.

It's the never-ending circle of agape.

It is common sense.  But, at the same time, it is extremely challenging as it convicts us because it goes against our selfish nature.  And it takes an incredible act of will...the will of God, and the work of the Holy Spirit, for us to be able to enact and activate love in us the way Jesus commanded. He knew that.  And that is why He gave us Himself in the Holy Spirit...the Helper who is the Only force that can move us to love continuously, in spite of our weaknesses and rebellion. 

Eventually, over the years, I have accepted the Dan Dieter's principles of financial independence, and I am most grateful that God has endowed my husband with such spirit of discipline and strength.  But, we also realize that some debts we will never be able to pay...so we make efforts to give the budget to God, for everything that we have belongs to Him, and our budget represents our lives, so we pray He would fully use it to continue to pay our debt to love while in this life.