Owe No Man Anything Except Love

Text: Romans 13:8-10

8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.

9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Introduction

This Biblical passage presents a puzzle to so many people since it says “Owe no man anything except love”. The passage presents love as a debt that must be paid no matter the circumstance. Beloved, we are to kindly note this that we owe each other love for ever. The next question that will arise is this, but what about the first part that says “Owe no one anything.” We really need to understand the Scripture from its context and never try to interpret the Scripture out of context. We need to understand the Biblical principles of dealing with money. Does it mean if we lack money and there is an opportunity to borrow from friends or to get soft loan, we should not attempt such since the Bible says “owe no one anything”? Does the Scripture say that we should not commit ourselves financially? This is absolutely “NO”. We can take loan from people, from organization and we can even buy houses on loan but we must resolve that we are going to pay back and we must be working towards paying our debts.

In some part of Africa, people lived their entire lives on Credit Card including the shoe they wear, all is on credit card. By the time they noticed that the debt profile is so great that even their third to fourth generations would still be paying the debts, they will just wake up in a day without talking to anyone, take themselves to the pinnacle of maybe ten storey building and end it there so that the debt can become bad debt. We are not referring to this kind of people and of course, any who commit suicide is a child of the devil in the order of Judas Iscariot. This message and this Scripture are addressing Believers who wants to make it to heaven at last. Although, we have many so-called children of God in Church today who are also very dubious, the best you can do for yourself is to give them what you know it won’t hurt you nor alter your financial plans because such people from onset have resolved that they would not pay back since they know you do not have any court of law to take them to. Beloved, must we take ourselves for granted just because we know that our Brother in Christ would not take us to court? In Acts 28:30, the Apostle Paul whom the Lord used to write this Letter to the church in Rome did not take those whom he rented their apartment for granted, he obviously paid the agreed rent. Friends, why is it becoming a problem for you to keep your promise when it comes to finances? Why do you choose to defraud people in the name of borrowing? Are you sure, you are genuinely saved? You need to check your life if you are still in the faith but obviously with this kind of attitude of yours, you might have departed from the faith long ago without knowing, so all you need to do now is to plead to God for restoration.

Beloved, please note that financial commitments are part of life, as long as we pay them on time, we owe no one anything but if we pile up debts that are beyond our income, we have not only broke the law but we have denied the faith. Learn to live within your means.

Prayers: Father, please help me to owe no one anything except love and the grace to show and give this love to the dying world, please give to me in Jesus name.