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.

Who Told You That You Were Naked?

Conviction and Condemnation

Last month I was listening to an interview on the radio. James Merritt was talking about his book "52 Weeks With Jesus". The interviewer, Lynne Ford, read an excerpt from his book and I've been thinking about it ever since. You can follow the link to hear the whole interview, but I'll paraphrase the excerpt here.

There was a group of tourists watching a flock of sheep. A man was chasing them where he wanted them to go and one of the people watching asked their guide why the shepherd was chasing the sheep from behind. Don't sheep follow their shepherd?
Yes they do, the guide told them. The person chasing the sheep wasn't the shepherd.
It was the butcher. Jesus leads. It's the devil who chases.

Notice that both motivate. Jesus asks us to go along with Him where He's already gone ahead of us, protecting, preparing, promising. The 23rd Psalm is crammed with practical allegory about the trusting relationship. Sheep trust their shepherd.

Then there's the enemy. He chases us from behind with fear, accusation, and discouragement. We don't move because we trust the devil we move because we fail to trust The Shepherd. We believe the lie just like Adam and Eve did.


1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” [see the subtle cynicism here? The ever-so-slight criticism of God? The devil knew what God really said. He wasn't asking a question, he was planting one in Eve's mind]

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”

4“You will not certainly die,”[big, fat, filthy, LIE] the serpent said to the woman. 5“For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, [very true] and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” [he knows they don't understand the implications of "knowing". He knows that he's implied that God is holding out on them, that He's offered something less than His best. Not directly spoken, but another HUGE lie, nonetheless.]

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. [doesn't it just make your heart sick every time you read it?] She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. [Adam sitting silent is a topic for another day] 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. [They let the enemy chase them to their shame]

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”


Okay, so if you've hung in here with me though my little commentary, here's my point:
God is not the one who shames. He is not the one who scorns, or condemns.
The enemy does that.
Though he has nothing anywhere like Our Father's power* he is sneaky and efficient. He mixes up lies and the truth to trip you up. Your enemy will chase you toward sin and then try to make you feel like scum for failing.
If the voice whispering to your spirit is sneering at you in disgust you can bet your favorite hoodie that it's not Your Father, but your enemy.

So here's a practical example for you: You lost your temper and spoke harshly to a friend or family member. You know you hurt them and now you regret your words and your tone.

The enemy: You really messed up. They hate you now and you've done irreparable damage. Things like that are the reason [fill in the blank with an insecurity he's choosing to pick at, adding discouragement to guilt and shame]

The Father: Your words were spoken in anger. You know from My Word that it is not My hope for you to sin in your anger. I want better for my children. You must ask forgiveness of Me and your loved one. In the future, call on Me when you are frustrated. I will use these trials to make you more like Me.

So there's some really good news. You have total access to The One who loves you as if there's no one else to love. James 4;7 says "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
Because of Him you have authority over the enemy of your soul. At the Name of Jesus, he, the accuser,will be the one chased away.






*read: the devil is not God's opposite; God has no opposite. the devil is not God's nemesis, though he's love for us to think it. He's under no such delusion himself, but knows he is defeated and has no power other than what God allows him. Again, that's a topic for another day.