8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
-Romans 13:8-10
This passage touches upon two points—your finances and your relationships. The financial advice here is to have no debt. We live in a consumer culture where easy credit can plunge people into unending chronic debt. Americans today owe over $930 billion dollars to credit card companies. That’s a lot of money.
I was always taught by my parents, and now Scripture, that you should never buy anything you can’t afford at the moment. If you don’t have the money for it, don’t buy it. Pretty simple rule.
Of course, financial debt is not the focus of this passage but an example to be used for something even more important—our relationships with others. The Apostle Paul is asking us to live as if we owed others our money, our time, and our very lives. Paul encourages to live as if our relational debt to people can never be paid—we should always be serving them and always giving to them. This is pretty radical thinking.
I like to live my own life thinking I don’t owe anybody anything. But that’s not what the Bible tells us. It says we have a debt to God that can never be repaid. I owe God and He doesn’t even want me to pay Him back because He knows I can’t. That kind of radical grace and love should compel me to show radical grace and love to others.
Are you living your life loving people and seeing others?
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