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Jan 27, 2025 06:00am

An Un-Payable Debt

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I stood at Wendy’s counter, digging through my purse.

“It has to be in here,” I thought to myself. The rise of panic began to fill me. I searched more frantically, embarrassment growing by the second.

Finally, I realized I must have left my wallet at home. Red-faced, I said to the lady at the register, “I’m so sorry; I guess I’ve left my wallet at home. I’m so sorry.”

I started to turn, but a man behind me said, “Here, I’ll pay for it and mine.”

I tried to argue but he wasn’t having any of it. The lady handed me my meal, and he went on ordering his.

I was mortified. I was so ashamed that I couldn’t pay for it myself that I couldn’t even look him in the face. With my eyes downcast, I said thank you repeatedly and quickly exited.

I fumbled with the handle, threw my stuff and myself in the car, and slammed the door behind me.

I burst into tears.

The kindness that man showed me was tremendous to me. He didn’t have to do that. Who am I to him? And how could I repay him? I had nothing to offer him. I could have dug in my purse and found some perfume-tasting candy covered in lint or half a stick of juicy fruit gum to give him, but how would that even come close?

Ashamed yet grateful, my emotions were everywhere as I pulled away from the restaurant parking lot.

All I could think was, “How could I ever repay this man?”

Acts 1:14-15

“I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish.
15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.”

Paul continues his letter to the Roman believers and shares that he was indebted. What was his debt?

Remember his encounter with Christ? He was a persecutor of Christians, one of the worst sort, and yet Christ had a plan for him. Paul was on his way to Damascus to continue his quest to rid the world of followers of Christ. And it was there that Jesus met him and changed his whole world. Jesus saved Paul.

Paul didn’t realize it before, but because of his sin, he owed a great debt to God. He believed that he was doing the right thing. He followed the law to a “T” and thought that was enough. But this debt was one he could not pay on his own. And here was this man, God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who stepped in and paid that debt for him.

Paul was humbled. He surrendered to the Lord as he recognized what a tremendous and incredible thing the Lord did for him.

But how could he ever repay Jesus?

Paul knew he had nothing to offer except his life. So, his outstanding debt is the same one you and I have as believers. Christ has saved us. And our lives committed to him, sharing His name, truth, and love with others, is all we have to offer in return.

There’s no way to repay the Lord for the incredible gift He has given us. But like Paul, we can recognize our lives are all we have to offer.

Would you like to learn more? Let me show you what a life surrendered to Jesus looks like. Let me help you grow in your relationship with the one who saved you. Go to follow.lifeword.org.