Debt Canceled
Like erasing words on a white board,
You wiped away my sin.
You left no trace of transgression
and brought me to life again!
“And when you were dead in your transgressions
and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
He made you alive together with him,
having forgiven us all our transgressions,
having canceled out the certificate of debt
consisting of decrees against us
and which was hostile to us;
and He has taken it out of the way,
having nailed it to the cross.”
Colossians 2:13-14 (NASB)
ĕxalĕiphō1813 – to smear out, i.e. obliterate (erase tears, fig. pardon sin): - blot out, wipe away.
I’ve had an interesting array of jobs in my life, and the best was the venue God worked through to give me my children. That one also involves a story of canceled debt. Howard originally hired me to keep an eye on his teenagers while he traveled with his job. That evolved into helping them with their home-schooling as well. Then I quit my full-time teaching job and spent every morning teaching Tom and Esther. Howard purchased a new home computer and printer to enable me to work from home transcribing, to be able to create lessons for his children, and to allow my students to type reports and stories at my house. The understanding was that I would deduct a small monthly payment for the computer from the bill I sent to Howard. After just a couple of months of slowly paying him back for the computer, Howard canceled that debt telling me not to deduct it from my wages anymore. What a generous gift!
However, I still had tremendous debt due to medical and dental expenses charged on credit cards. I was depressed and could not see a way out. About the time Tom and Esther became adults and left home, my father was diagnosed with cancer. I moved in with my parents to help around the house. No one blotted out my over $25,000 of credit card debt; but under conviction that my debt was not glorifying to God, I began slowly paying it off. After my father passed away, I continued to live with my mother; and God enabled me to pay off all those credit cards. Talk about a burden lifted!
An old chorus begins, “I owed a debt I could not pay.” The deficit created by my sin was comparable to owing millions of dollars with interest compounded daily. There was no way I would ever be able to satisfy the righteous requirements of God. However, Jesus obliterated that debt when he died on the cross in my place. He nailed my bill to the cross marked “paid in full.” When I realized what Christ had done for me, I went from being dead and defeated by my sin to being forgiven and alive in the Lord. God also allows me to start fresh with him each day by confessing my sins and allowing him to cleanse me from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9).
Lord Jesus, thank you for paying my debt on the cross. May the change you’ve wrought in my life bring honor and glory to you. Help me to express my gratitude in service to you and enable me to show others how to be debt free.
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