Psalm 116:12, 13
In light of all that Jesus has done for us through His sacrificial death on the cross, shouldn’t we owe Him something? We are so loved of God that He would put all of our sins and sicknesses into His own Son and then kill Him so that we might be saved. With that love in our hearts, surely we should spend our lives paying Him back?
Believer, never forget this; what Christ paid for at the cross costs WAY TOO MUCH for you to even begin paying Him back. No moral code that you adhere to will pay back His perfect morality. No system of regimental prayer and study will compensate Him for His complete relationship with His Father’s face and voice. No financial gift could ever compare to the royal diadem that He laid aside to live on this earth in human flesh. In short, there is not enough morality, or righteousness or money in the world to give back to God what He has so freely given to us.
The great Apostle Paul knew that he was a debtor, but not to God: “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise” (Romans 1:14). He did not see his debt as being God-ward but rather man-ward. Due to the finished work in us, we owe it to everyone that we come in contact with to show them the great “gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16).
By our human nature, we desire to work for all good things in our life. This instinct does not die easily, and many times as believers under the covenant of grace, we realize that while we cannot save ourselves, we surely should have some role to play in living our lives as a sort of “pay-back”. In fact, I recently spotted a bumper sticker that said, “He died for you, the least you could do is live for Him”. This sticker epitomized the condition of man, “work for that which is free; and payback all that is given”.
The only time that Paul uses the word “debt” in any of his writings is found in Romans 4:4. The verse follows Paul’s declaration of Abraham being counted righteous by believing God. “Now to him that works is the reward not counted of grace, but of debt”. In other words, what you work for (either to get or to pay-back) makes God a debtor to you.
When the Psalmist was faced with this age-old predicament of paying God back for all of His goodness, he stumbled upon the most perfect of solutions. Due to God’s nature as a giver and as one who truly loves us unconditionally, David saw what he could do that would bring the maximum amount of honor to God. Just after he asks the question, “What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me?”, he concludes:
“I will take the cup of salvation…” (Psalms 116:13). Wow! David’s answer as to how to pay God back was to TAKE MORE! God is so gracious and loving and ready to bless us with all good things, that the only way to re-pay Him for this goodness is to honor that grace and favor by resting in it. Take of all that the cross paid for you, for our taking honors His giving.
Alexander the Great once passed a beggar on the side of the road. The beggar sought alms and Alexander told the man in charge of the money to give the beggar a gold coin. As they rode away, one of Alexander’s advisors leaned towards him and asked, “Why did you give that beggar a gold coin when a copper coin would have sufficed?” Alexander answered, “Copper coins suit the beggar’s need but gold coins suit Alexander’s giving”. Honor your great God by taking all that He has paid for. Hallelujah!
In light of all that Jesus has done for us through His sacrificial death on the cross, shouldn’t we owe Him something? We are so loved of God that He would put all of our sins and sicknesses into His own Son and then kill Him so that we might be saved. With that love in our hearts, surely we should spend our lives paying Him back?
Believer, never forget this; what Christ paid for at the cross costs WAY TOO MUCH for you to even begin paying Him back. No moral code that you adhere to will pay back His perfect morality. No system of regimental prayer and study will compensate Him for His complete relationship with His Father’s face and voice. No financial gift could ever compare to the royal diadem that He laid aside to live on this earth in human flesh. In short, there is not enough morality, or righteousness or money in the world to give back to God what He has so freely given to us.
The great Apostle Paul knew that he was a debtor, but not to God: “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise” (Romans 1:14). He did not see his debt as being God-ward but rather man-ward. Due to the finished work in us, we owe it to everyone that we come in contact with to show them the great “gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16).
By our human nature, we desire to work for all good things in our life. This instinct does not die easily, and many times as believers under the covenant of grace, we realize that while we cannot save ourselves, we surely should have some role to play in living our lives as a sort of “pay-back”. In fact, I recently spotted a bumper sticker that said, “He died for you, the least you could do is live for Him”. This sticker epitomized the condition of man, “work for that which is free; and payback all that is given”.
The only time that Paul uses the word “debt” in any of his writings is found in Romans 4:4. The verse follows Paul’s declaration of Abraham being counted righteous by believing God. “Now to him that works is the reward not counted of grace, but of debt”. In other words, what you work for (either to get or to pay-back) makes God a debtor to you.
When the Psalmist was faced with this age-old predicament of paying God back for all of His goodness, he stumbled upon the most perfect of solutions. Due to God’s nature as a giver and as one who truly loves us unconditionally, David saw what he could do that would bring the maximum amount of honor to God. Just after he asks the question, “What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me?”, he concludes:
“I will take the cup of salvation…” (Psalms 116:13). Wow! David’s answer as to how to pay God back was to TAKE MORE! God is so gracious and loving and ready to bless us with all good things, that the only way to re-pay Him for this goodness is to honor that grace and favor by resting in it. Take of all that the cross paid for you, for our taking honors His giving.
Alexander the Great once passed a beggar on the side of the road. The beggar sought alms and Alexander told the man in charge of the money to give the beggar a gold coin. As they rode away, one of Alexander’s advisors leaned towards him and asked, “Why did you give that beggar a gold coin when a copper coin would have sufficed?” Alexander answered, “Copper coins suit the beggar’s need but gold coins suit Alexander’s giving”. Honor your great God by taking all that He has paid for. Hallelujah!
