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Debts


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

          Do you have a debt of love you need to repay? We love, because God first loved us (I John 4:19.) Have you ever seen or heard about the movie Pay It Forward? It’s a good illustration of our situation. God loved us first, and because of that love, we have the capacity to love someone else. Parents love children, giving them the capacity to love. A child whose parents neglect him/her is likely to become a sociopath, incapable of love, or so they say. If no one had given us love, we would have none to pay anyone else.
          In one sense love is a gift that is given. None of us deserves it. Neither can what someone gives us be called love if it is given in order to receive repayment. That’s why we can’t pay our debt of love back to God or anyone else. We can only pay it forward to someone who doesn’t deserve it any more than we did. That is the nature of love. There is no way to repay the debt we owe, but we must make the attempt. If we do not, we haven’t truly received it in the first place.

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