Deal with Your Debt (Debt)

I saw a commercial the other day where a mid-twenties guy wanted to rent a really nice apartment, but he couldn’t because he had really low credit. Then a moneylender promised him an immediate 20-point increase in his credit score. He smiled, and the commercial spot ended with him lounging happily in a luxury apartment looking very relaxed.  

Okay, so why is this commercial so misleading? Well, here’s the basics of how credit works. If you’re good with money (you make it, spend it responsibly, and pay your bills) you’ll have “good credit”. If you’re not good with money (you spend more than you make, and don’t pay your bills) you’ll have “bad credit.”
 

So, the implication in this commercial is: “You don't have to deal with your debts, just pay us money and we'll help you get everything you want right now.”  

I worked with a guy (we’ll call him Adam) who didn’t have a license. He should never have gotten the job because it required him to drive, but he’d been deceptive on the application. It didn’t work! Within six weeks he was in my office for repeatedly being late.  

It turned out, Adam had neglected to pay some tickets five years before. The fines and court fees became overwhelming and rather than dealing with it, he packed up and moved. But the courts don’t tolerate outstanding debts and eventually they suspended his license. All he needed to do was pay his debt and he could get his license renewed. He was good at the job, and worked hard when he was there, so I wanted to fight for him to get this fixed. 

Well, it wasn’t that simple. Adam owed a lot of people money and had made a lot of friends and family angry along the way. So even though the amount of money required for him to get his license was relatively small, his overall debts, both financial and relational, left him paralyzed. He dragged his feet for two weeks trying to squirm out of dealing with it, but eventually, I had to let him go as an employee. It was very sad, but he needed a license to do the job, and to get a license he needed to deal with his debts. 

In Matthew 18:21-35 Peter is asking Jesus about forgiveness. “How many times should I forgive my brother?” Peter asks. Jesus says, “every time!” and then in response to the shocked look on Peter’s face Jesus tells him a parable about a man, like Adam, who was in a lot of debt. Jesus says, (paraphrased) imagine this man has all his debt forgiven by the judge, but then goes out and demands that someone else pay him the few dollars they own him. He was just set free by the judge’s debt forgiveness; shouldn’t he extend that same debt forgiveness to his brother? The obvious answer is yes! 

The spiritual truth is if you don’t trust in Jesus, you are in debt to God because of your sin. You have swiped the debit card of pride, selfishness, arrogance, lust, envy, laziness, and whatever else, and accrued a debt that can only be paid with your life (you can’t just buy 20 points to boost your spiritual credit score!). But Jesus never accrued any debt to God. Instead, He amassed spiritual wealth so vast that when He died on the cross, He left enough behind to pay the debts of any who trust in Him. And since He rose again, He presides as legal defense in the courts of heaven for all those who trust in His name. Imagine, if we could have our spiritual debts forgiven by God? We can, through Jesus Christ! 

Three years after I let Adam go, I got an email from him out of the blue. The subject line said, “I got it!!!!!!!!!!”. And when I opened the email there was a picture of his new license. He had dealt with his debts. I felt emotional thinking about all he must have gone through, and relieved for him to be free of that crushing burden. How much more must our Father in heaven desire that we accept the gift of Jesus’ death and resurrection that we might be free of our eternal debt and thrive?