A friend sent me a text recently, asking me to do her a favor. And with a busy schedule (as we all have), I simply replied to her in my head. Forgetting to actually send her a reply, I was face-to-face with her a few days later. The moment I saw her, it instantly triggered the thought of my shortcoming. I was reminded I owed her a reply and a favor. I did what any self-respecting friend would do: I hid and acted busy at church to avoid a sticky situation. Silly, I know, but it seemed logical at the time.
Have you ever owed anyone anything? It seems that once you owe someone something, all you can do is think of your debt whenever you see them.
Sometimes this is what we do in our attitude toward God. But that is not His best for us. Instead of always being reminded of our sin when we think of God, we can remember He wishes for us to see His mercy and grace. I cannot have a healthy relationship with my heavenly Father if I do not understand I owe Him a debt I could never repay. It’s important to grasp the fact Jesus was my absurd overpayment for that debt. . . all of my debts. And any time I feel guilt for something I did wrong, I can bring that to Jesus and thank Him for making me clean.
Hebrews 10 gives us a clearer understanding of this concept when we realize it was God’s will for the sacrifice of Jesus to make us holy. . .and holy forever. Now that is good news.
I challenge you to change how you perceive your debt to God. He already knows your inadequacies, and we can never really “surprise” God with our actions. So start seeing Him as your loving father.
Thank you, Jesus, for taking the debt of my sin and paying what I could never repay. Amen.
(Photo courtesy of morguefile and anitapeppers.)
(For more devotions, visit us at www.christiandevotions.us.)
I really loved it. You got to the point and the example is something we can all relate to both with people and our God