Let’s Say Your Debts Add Up To A Million Dollars
Let’s say all of your combined debts add up to $1,000,000, and you have no ability to pay any of your debts.
Let’s say all of your creditors are coming after you, demanding payments or all of your possessions will be ceased.
Yet you have no ability to pay.
Let’s say that a friend comes to you and says he will cover all of your payments until you are able to pay your own debts.
However, the friend says you will also owe him for all the back payments he made to cover your debts.
So in reality, you still owe for all the debts, even though they are being temporarily covered by a friend, who you still owe for all the payments he made.
Consequently, you still live with these debts.
They worry you consistently and weigh you down heavily.
You have another friend who sees your debts and your desperation.
This other friend, who loves you greatly, comes to you and says he will pay in full all the debts you owe to your creditors, and he will pay your friend back for all the payments he made on your behalf in covering your debt payments.
In addition, this other friend says he will also pay in full all your future debts, so that you will have no past debts and no future debts.
This other friend, paying your debts in full, says that in paying your debts, you will owe him nothing in return…it’s all grace – unconditional love, unmerited kindness, and unearned blessings.
Your response is to believe the debt payments have been made…to have faith in your friend and the payment he made to take away your debts.
Your heart is so overwhelmed by the grace of your friend, thanksgiving overflows from your heart to his heart for this payment of grace he has made.
This act of thanksgiving is not a requirement, but it is simply your response to his gracious loving-kindness in paying your debt.
This simple illustration describes the difference between the old testament of the law of Moses and the new testament of the grace of Jesus.
The law of Moses is like the first friend that covered debts of past sins, yet demanded payment back, since the law did not pay the debt in full, but simply covered the debt until it could be paid in full.
The other friend is like the grace of Jesus.
Because of his great love for us (2 Corinthians 5:14), Jesus, through his death, not only paid the debt of our past sins in full, the debt of death (Romans 5:12), but he also paid the full sin debt for all of our sins in the future (Romans 5:8-21; 1 John 2:1-2; Hebrews 9:12).
This payment for our sins is called grace (Hebrews 2:9).
Grace is the unconditional love, unmerited kindness, and unearned blessings that have come to us from God through Jesus to pay our sin debt in full, for all sins and for all time.
Our only response to this payment of grace made by Jesus is to believe (Romans 3:21-25).
Our hearts then overflow with thanksgiving to God for the grace he has given to us in Christ (2 Corinthians 4:15; 5:18-21).
Jesus is the friend who has great love for us and demonstrates his love by laying down his life for us.
Jesus said (John 15:13),
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
Jesus is that friend to us all.
Because of Jesus, we can live guilt-free and in spiritual peace, assured that our sin debt has been fully forgiven forever because of his great love for us in paying our sin debt.
Thank you Jesus…our hearts overflow with thanksgiving to you.
If you have never trusted in Jesus, you can do that now. Below is a simple prayer to express your faith in Jesus.
Jesus, thank you for your great love for me in paying my sin debt in full though your death. Today I trust in you and your payment for all my sins.
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To help you learn more about Jesus and all he has done for you, there are many resources on this website that explain more fully all that Jesus has done for you. You can access the resources from the Home Page.
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