Romans 13:8 (NIV) Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.

Whenever you are in debt, the normal thing is to try to get out of debt as soon as you can. Owing something to someone, whether it is owed to another person or to a company that you purchased something from, feels like there is something hanging over your head (not a comfortable feeling). The Bible warns us about getting into debt and tells us to avoid it...except in one area. The Bible tells us to stay in debt when it comes to loving one another.

As followers of Christ, we usually don't look at loving someone as making payments on a debt that we owe. As a matter of fact, when it comes to loving one another, many of us make our own rules. We love those that love us (usually) but we shun those that we feel are difficult to love. That's not what Jesus told us to do. As a matter of fact, He said that if you just love those that love you, you haven't done anything more than what sinners who don't know Him do. He said that we should also love our enemies (Matthew 5:44). He was really serious about this love thing. Loving one another was one of the things that Jesus really focused on in His teachings and in the scripture above, the Word of God tells us that it's a debt that we owe that we can never get out of. We will never be able to pay it off. The Bible also tells us that if we do some amazing things like prophesying or making mountains move but don't love each other, we are nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-2). Loving one another is a command that He gave us and that He said would identify us as His disciples.

So the question for us is, are we loving one another? Are we making payments on this revolving debt that we will owe for the rest of our lives or are we in default with our payments? While we want to and need to get out of every other kind of debt, this is one that we should hold near and dear to our hearts because it is near and dear to the heart of Jesus. When we do make payments on this continuing debt, it is evidence that Jesus is Lord in our lives and that He is sitting on the throne of our hearts because while we don't have the resources to pay this never-ending debt, it is no problem whatsoever for Him. This is one debt that we should be paying gladly because it makes the heart of our Lord and Savior glad. Let's continually ask Him to pour His love into our hearts so that we will always have more than enough to make much more than the minimum payment!

Pastor Joey Vazquez