The Bible says: "We are debtors." That's one verse almost everyone agrees with. Most people, even Christians, are in debt. They owe on their houses, their cars, their education, their possessions, etc. However, the Bible says we are not to be debtors to others or to the flesh. We don't owe it to ourselves to buy this, eat that, or go on this vacation. The only debt we should owe is the debt to love one another (Rm 13:8). We owe each other love, encouragement (see Phil 2:1), and respect. Most of all, we owe a debt of love and gratitude to God. We also incur a debt to God and others because of sin. However, we can be released from that debt because, when we repent and ask the Lord, He will forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors (Mt 6:12, RSV-CE).

In summary:

• We shouldn't be in debt financially.
• We don't owe a thing to ourselves.
• We should repent of our sins and ask the Lord to forgive us our debts due to sin.
• We should constantly be paying on our debt to love one another.
• We should worship, love, and obey the Lord because of our debt to Him.
• We should rejoice that we can't ever pay our debt to the Lord, but are privileged to try forever.

Rescript:  †Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, June 3, 2009

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