Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

February 3– Morning

 by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff

“Therefore, brothers, we are debtors.” 

—Romans 8:12

 

As God’s creatures, we are all debtors to him–- to obey him with all our mind, body, soul, and strength. Having broken his commandments, as we all have, we are debtors to his justice, and we owe to him a vast amount which we are unable to pay.

At the same time, however, it can be said that the Christian owes nothing to God in terms of his justice. That is because Christ has paid the debt his people once owed. As a Christian, then, I am a debtor to God’s grace and forgiving mercy, but I am no debtor to his justice, for he will never demand payment from me for a debt already paid. Christ said, “It is finished!” and by that he meant that whatever his people owed to God was wiped away forever from the record book. Christ thoroughly satisfied divine justice; the account is settled; the handwriting is nailed to the cross; the receipt is given, and we are debtors to God’s justice no longer.

Because we are not debtors to our Lord in that sense, however, we become ten times more debtors to God’s love than we were before. Stop and think about this for a moment. How much do you now owe to his love? How much do you owe to his forgiving grace? Even after ten thousand offenses, he still loves you as infinitely as ever. His power has preserved your spiritual life and kept you from falling. Though you have changed a thousand times, he has not changed once.

You are in debt to every attribute of God. To God, you owe nothing less than your very self, so yield to him all that you have as a living sacrifice. It is the only reasonable thing to do. [M&E]