The weight of our debt

Eight months after our wedding day, my husband and I thrilled to learn our first baby was on her way. Seven months after her arrival, our second child lit up the ultrasound screen. When she reached the ripe old age of nine months—you guessed it, we learned a third child was in the works; and when he was not yet two, his baby brother joined our family. Four, three, nearly two, and new . . . that’s how we introduced our brood. And they introduced us to something too—debt. All those babies and bottles and diapers and wipes added up quickly, faster than the income my husband could make working three jobs.

Insurance payments meandered their way to plastic (who am I kidding? They scampered effortlessly to become besties with our 22% interest rate), so did postage stamps (to mail the bills), groceries—necessities. Throw in a bad choice in the vehicle leasing department and we were sunk. God graciously provided us a home after an astounding tax return, but we found ourselves with a lot of financial catching up to do . . . while still addressing the needs of our little crowd of growing babes.

I learned a lot about sacrifice in the years that followed; wistfully watching as the other ladies at church sported new seasonal ensembles, while I dug out my worn-through jeans to wear . . . again. The only time we saw the inside of a restaurant was when doting grandparents came to town, offering to foot the bill. Oh, there were a thousand ways we penny-pinched and scraped to get by, all in the hopes of getting rid of our financial debt.

And then . . . a great day came; a final check eliminated forever the oodles of credit card debt we’d accumulated in our children’s youngest years. The unrecognized weight that lifted off of our tired shoulders, the buoyant joy that filled the anxious places where memories of financial woes stayed hidden, what a beautiful relief!

Colossians 2:13-14 says, “You were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self. But God gave you new life together with Christ. He forgave all our sins. Because we broke God’s laws, we owed a debt—a debt that listed all the rules we failed to follow. But God forgave us of that debt. He took it away and nailed it to the cross.”

How wise our great God is to describe Jesus’ sacrifice for us as a debt paid! What a tremendous relief for our tired, heavy souls that our countless sins are removed as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12), they are blotted out of God’s memories (Isaiah 43:25), and we are free to embrace the luxury of His rich love as He purifies our inmost selves (1 John 1:9).

God’s greatest provision for our eternal “accounts” is His one and only—His child, His heart, Himself. Astounding, and so very loving. If you have yet to experience the sudden “payment” of peace that Christ offers in the face of an insurmountable mountain of “soul debt,” for Pete’s sake, give it a go! Forget the bank book, you’ll be in the Book of Life. Ask Christ to forgive the mistakes, bad decisions, the junk you thought you needed (but discovered only pulled you down) and promise to put your heart and efforts into obeying Him from here on out—it’s instant debt relief. Paid in full.

Jesseca Newton
Writer