Friday, March 30, 2018

Bought Debt



If you're like me you enjoy learning new things. A couple of days ago I learned that there is a translation of the Bible called "The Geneva Bible" that was an English translation predating the King James. I'd heard of this Bible before, but I thought the person who mentioned it was severely confused. Turns out it's a real thing. Now I know. Last week I learned that my dentist and his staff are really, really good at that game with the mouthpiece where you have to guess what your teammate is saying. They get a lot of practice with that one.
Some things aren't as much fun to learn. Sometimes learning something new leaves us feeling disappointed and disgusted. For example, I recently learned that there are companies out there that literally purchase outstanding debt. Did you know this? I had no idea this happened until someone told me about it. It's pretty gross, actually.  These companies exploit the misfortunes of others. Sure, some have made unwise decisions and of course people should pay what they owe. It doesn't matter how you look at it, it still seems merciless. What these companies do is contact lenders with offers to take on the claims of people who have outstanding debts. They buy the balance for a fraction of the deficit and then they wait. Periodically, I suppose, they check the borrower's credit  until he or she has a high enough score. They then contact the borrower and threaten to take them to court if they don't pay. It seems pretty rotten to me.
But strangely enough it also reminds me of Jesus.
There sits my debt: a long list of wrongs. Every boast. Every ugly word. Every time I choose self over righteousness; my name justly scrawled at the bottom of the mess in indelible ink. I deserve the penalty- to be eternally separated from God. I could never live with Him in paradise while bearing my sinful heart. I also have no means of paying. On my own I have no hope.Today is Good Friday. 2,000 years ago Jesus endured unspeakable suffering in order to buy our debt. Yours and mine and everyone else's, ever. In one outrageous act, He reclaimed our deficit. I will dramatically understate by saying, however, that He did not merely pay a fraction of the cost. The price of our debt was His precious, sinless, blood. Because of the perfection of the price, the payment was absolute. Every person, ever, has had his or her debt purchased by the Son of God.  1 Peter tells us that Jesus died one time and for each of us; that He invaded death and hell (Revelation 1:18) and ascended to heaven with all authority. That means that He doesn't go back to the cross every time a new believer is ready to accept Him. He doesn't have to go to the enemy to reclaim every sin-list, because the sin of the world was laid on His sinless shoulders on that first Good Friday. Like the debt collector, Jesus already owns the debt, and is waiting. Like the debt collector He peruses us.Unlike the debt collector, He is not waiting for us to be able to pay Him back because He knows that will never happen.  Unlike the debt collector when we acknowledge that, yes and that is our debt, that we are in fact guilty, when we accept His gift and begin our new life with Him, He shows us that He's written His own name in place of ours.  Forgiven. Paid in Full. It is Finished.