Outstanding Debt

I'm in charge of the sign up sheet for my sunday school class for the upcoming First Baptist Night at the Astros game. Today, I wrote the standard "Name, Phone, E-mail, Paid?" heading across the top of a piece of paper and began recruiting folks to go. When Jonathan signed up, he immediately pulled out his wallet to pay for his ticket saying "I don't like to be in debt." A great philosophy to have in life, though rare in our consumer driven nation. Upon taking his $6, I was reminded of Paul's instruction to the Romans,"let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to love one another" (Rms 13:8).

What did Paul mean by that? Well, Jesus commanded His disciples to love one another as He had loved them (John 15:12) and went on to allude again to His death with the next statement that "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." Love is a command, therefore I find it interesting that Paul calls it an outstanding debt. By definition, a debt is something owed to someone in exchange for something else. So, if love is a debt, does that mean we only "owe" love to those who have something to give us in exchange? I don't think so...that would be inconsistent with the rest of Scripture. We're called to love those who can't do anything for us (for example, your "neighbor" may be someone like the man in the story of the great Samaritan who is robbed, beaten and lying on the side of the road...he can't do a thing to earn your love). So, here's what I'm proposing.

The Person to whom we owe the real debt of love is Christ Himself. While we're called to "love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength," we're also called to "love our neighbors as ourselves." It's kindof a "pay it forward" idea. We can never love Jesus enough to repay Him for the Cross, so instead, we must love Him with everything we do have, then attempt to continue paying Him back, by paying that love forward to others. We're to go to our grave making deposits on our debt of love.

But all this is theoretical...stuff we know in our heads, but are less definite on how to make it play out. How do we pay this debt in practical ways? First, we need to ask God to give us opportunities to show love to others. We must pray for His heart for them to beat in us so that our attitude toward them is one of compassion and kindness, rather than frustration and impatience. We must ask for the ability to love...it's not something we can muster up on our own. Pray about it, open your eyes and your heart and then make your payments. At the same time, recognize that this debt will always be outstanding; you will never fully pay it back, but delight in the ability to pay toward it at all.

Oh, and one more thing...don't be afraid to be a recipient of someone else's deposit. It wouldn't be fair to cheat them out of the joy of making a payment!

I'm Independent!
Granddaddy got a new scooter. Many of my friends have heard all about this recent grasp for independence including how he went behind all of our backs to order the thing online, despite the fact that several family members had advised him against it. Then once it arrived, he decided that he didn't need to stay on the sidewalk (it was too bumpy), the street is much better...never mind that the scooter goes a whopping 6mph max. Anyway, we've had several talks about the scooter and where it's safe to ride, etc, etc. I did make him promise me that he would wait until I could go with him the first time he took it for a spin, which he did, only because by a stroke of Providence, the scooter arrived minus its all-important seat and in the meantime, I got back into town and "happened to be home" the day the missing part arrived.

We took it down to the church (his primary desired destination)...him driving his 6mph and me jogging alongside. On the way home, he got disoriented and lost his street, then passed his house (this didn't foster much confidence in me),but we managed. Also, I had to take him to the bicycle shop to get an obnoxious horn, a bright orange flag and reflective triangle stickers so he could be somewhat safer out there.

It occurs to me that we do the same thing as Granddaddy in our spiritual lives. We run ahead of God, making our decisions despite what we're told in Scripture and ignoring the warnings of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. We assert our "independence" by choosing to ride on the "smoother street" because the sidewalks of life are too bumpy. We lose our way home because we get so caught up in the world that we forget what home looks like and we drive right past it.

It's ironic that even with all this "independence" Granddaddy's scooter brings him, I still had to take him to the store for scooter parts and I had to show him the way home the first time he went out on it. Independence is a farce, an illusion...it's the enemy telling us that we don't need God, we can maneuver through life just fine on our own. We can put on our little horn and flag and reflective stickers and we'll be safe from all the speeding, unheeding cars out there with which we're so determined to share the road.

The most freeing thing a Christian can do is not to assert his independence, but to recognize his utter dependence. This is what Christ meant when He said "Apart from me, you can do nothing" (John 15:5b). In fact, that whole chapter of John's gospel is about our sole dependence on Christ for everything. Stop believing the lie that you can be independent and start resting on the glorious fact that dependence means you're not in charge of the outcome...you only have to be faithful in the day-to-day. Rest on what Christ has done for you on the Cross and trust in the Lord with all your heart, not in your own understanding. Celebrate dependence! It means Someone who knows much better than you is taking care of you!

Oh, and please pray for my Granddaddy not to get lost or fall off that crazy thing somewhere between home and church.

Forgotten Fruit

I read a devotional this morning on the fruits of the Spirit. It was cool because Pastor Gregg also mentioned them this Sunday in his sermon, so they were fresh on my mind, meaning God is trying to hammer something home with me. So, after reading the devotional and doing a little thinking, I headed out for a walk so I could have fresh air to go along with my thoughts. (I find that sometimes I think better outside.)

As I walked and thought, I went through each fruit of the Spirit individually, considering what it would look like to have each trait. Some of them were easier than others. I mean, we're Christians, so we're always talking about Love and Joy and Peace and the dreaded Patience, but then there's also Kindness and Goodness. We don't talk about those as much. And what about Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control?

Kindness. It seems almost old-fashioned. "She's kind." "He's such a kind man." No one talks like that anymore. I remember learning the verse as a child in Sunday school, "Be ye kind, one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. Just as in Christ, God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32" So, is kindness, the idea old-fashioned or just the term? What exactly does Paul mean when he says kindness is a fruit of the Spirit? How does kindness differ from love or gentleness? Certainly they're interrelated.

Goodness is also kindof a "forgotten fruit," though it's taught constantly, especially to children and teenagers, but in a disguised manner. A person whose life is abandoned to the Spirit of God will be someone who can be defined as "good." Hollywood has made goodness almost despicable or at the very least naive. The good girl is homely and the good guy is a nerd. Being good just isn't any fun, according to the world's standards. But Paul lists it at one of the signs that a person is living by the Spirit. Hmmm...interesting.

I'll have to mull a little more on the last three, so I'll save those for a future blog entry. Let me know what you think.