November 9: Don’t owe anyone anything

Pay your obligations to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes, tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor. Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments: Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not covet; and whatever other commandment — all are summed up by this: Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:7-10 — Holman Christian Standard Bible)

We should not owe anyone anything… the only debt we should never finish paying is the debt of love. But to help us understand what this means, Paul explains... It means paying obligations and taxes, showing respect and honor, paying off anything else that might be owed, and refusing to commit adultery or murder, and to refrain from stealing and coveting. Love cannot be a word we use, or an attitude we apply to one area of our lives and not another. Love entails doing all the above mentioned things, and more. Interestingly, the Holy Spirit speaks about love but also mentions at least eight ways that we can manifest this love. Like we have said before, genuine love is not talk, but action. Just like Jesus proved His love for us by dying on the cross, we have to prove our love for Him by dying to self and living for Him.

God says we should love our neighbor as we love ourselves. What a big responsibility this is! On the other hand, how can we say that we love God, and then turn around and hate or ignore a person that He created and loves? Whenever we deal with other people, no matter who they are, they are souls in need of salvation and this must be our primary focus. When we show love, we fulfill the law of God. 

Let’s remember that true love involves hate. I cannot truly love God and not hate the devil. If I love God and other people, I will also hate sin and the demons that want to drive wedges between us and Him. It’s not enough for us to love and worship God (which most Christians do), we also have to fight the devil and demons.