My Forgiven Debt

Our church recently went through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. The tools are helpful in getting a family’s finances on track to be fixed.

But, one of the most memorable parts of the study is the stories of those who have put the plan into practice and have moved from being in financial desperation to being on a solid financial foundation. These are people who were deep in debt. Their mountain of debt seemed way too steep to surmount. We’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. And, on a normal salary with grit, determination, and a plan that works, these families moved into financial freedom and now experience true financial peace.

In Romans 4:4-8, the Bible teaches that each of us has an insurmountable debt. This is not a financial debt of loans and credit cards. It is a spiritual debt of sin. The difference is that we are not able to climb out of our debt of sin at all. No plan can help us get ourselves out. There is nothing we can do. The debt is too high.

There is no number of “good things” we can do to chip away at the debt, much less pay the debt totally. We are stuck with a bill of sin that we cannot pay on our own.

But, Jesus Christ did something that we could not. He did more than just “chip away” at the debt that we owe. His death on the cross paid the debt. ALL OF IT!!! He did what we could not do on our own. It is not our works of righteousness but believing “on Him” that credits this payment to our account.

Jesus “declares the ungodly to be righteous.” That is how He responds to our faith. He credits righteousness, not through our acts but through our faith. Then, He takes the debt off us because the debt has already been paid through the cross. And, in the place of that debt He gives forgiveness.

Where do we stand after that transaction of forgiveness? Blessed! Blessed because our sins are removed and forgiven. And, blessed because we will never be charged with sin again.

When handed the bill for our sin, Jesus says “tetelestai” (which is Greek for “It is finished” or “Paid in full”). That is what Jesus boldly proclaimed from the cross. That is what Jesus lovingly proclaims into our lives. The debt of sin is paid.

We bear it no more because He bore it on the cross. The cross makes all the difference because it is on the cross that our sin debt is paid.

Dave Ramsey has families come on his radio show and scream “WE ARE DEBT FREE” when all of their debt is paid off. For those we are in Christ, we can rightly stand and scream: “WE ARE DEBT FREE” and forgiven because our debt of sin has been paid through Christ.

(Response or Questions: jeff.perkins@mbclife.org).