Let No Debt Remain

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

One of the malicious quips made by antagonists in stories is the same advice made by doctors giving the worst possible diagnosis: get your affairs in order. It’s hard when a loved one dies, but when a loved on dies owing other people money, or dies with finances and paperwork a mess, it becomes far worse. I know someone who basically destroyed a car well before it was paid for and left it on the side of a highway. He refused to pay any more on it, since he didn’t have it anymore. Imagine having to try to clean up that mess when/if the creditors show up at some point after the person died.

When the going gets tough, it’s more important than ever that you have things taken care of, because it’s possible you won’t survive. Rather than burden family with the problem you’ve created, and rather than make your family look bad to the world, it is better to live in such a manner that if you die, your family doesn’t face that sort of difficulty and shame.

As Christians – ambassadors and children of Christ, it is incumbent on us to consider how our actions reflect on the Church and on Christ. When we take on a debt, we’re making a promise. We’re to keep our promises, pay our debts, do our parts – in other words, we’re to be good citizens and good people. The only debts we’re to still owe are those debts that cannot be repaid.

That means we have work to do – either to pay off the debts, or to clean up our records so things are as easy as possible for those who have to deal with them if we die.