13) Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that
oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might
have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.
14) I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the
Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.
15) So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the
gospel to you that are at
16) For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it
is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew
first, and also to the Greek.
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his
a thought that must be committed to the spirit, for it is becoming increasingly
apparent that many saints, today, feel little "debt" to anyone.
Nevertheless, the truth is that all who have obtained, as well as have heard
truth are
debtors to God—the Revealer of all truth.
It
is all too easy for those who have been so blessed to be tempted to forget what
has been done for us. This is part of the devil's strategy in distracting us
through the common, everyday occurrences if life. By occupying our attention,
he is able to make what is not important into what occupies most of our time.
Once this is accomplished, nothing
seems to be as important to us as what is happening to us. As we should know by now, the Lord never intended this to be
the case. He has saved us that we might have the position as well as the
resources to be fully utilized by Him. But once our attention is "highjacked," we view God in a different light and the
full impact of what it took Him to save us is lost.
Particularly
in these last days, there are many who can be held accountable for a lack of
love toward the Lord. Of course, it is prophesied in scripture that the love of
many toward Him would become "cold" (that is, of little or no
importance to the individual). If an individual ever loses an appreciation for
salvation and the sacrifice of Jesus, he will be unable to give the actor the One Who
performed the act much esteem. Sadly, many of us who sit in possession of the
Gift have forgotten what that Gift is to mean.
Mankind
(particularly, men) do not like to "owe" anyone, yet we will continue
to "take" at the expense of another. Loosely put, this phenomenon is
known as the lack of responsibility. We want to take, but we neither want to
give, nor be held accountable for that which we have been given. But after
coming to salvation, we really have no choice, for "when God saves one, He
has many in mind." You see, we become purveyors of salvation upon coming
to the Lord and it becomes our responsibility to do all in our control to show others the gospel. In that we are
very visual creatures, our brothers and sisters are dependent upon us to make a
difference in their lives. How could we dare not want to live for the benefit
of others and the Lord when, through coming to Him, the doors of all that is
good have been opened to us? Yes, we owe God a debt—and we are to pay Him.
Do
we not recognize the substandard state of the Church, today? What will it take
for us to once again, start caring about the plan and program of God?
Basically, the problem with salvation, today, is that the concerns of those who
come to Him remain as they were before salvation. We often seem to become no
more happy, content, at rest, at peace or blessed
than before salvation. Therefore, we are blinded to what we have been given and
therefore, to what we owe.
All
that we have been given could be likened to a loan—and the fine print accompanying it. By all rights, the Lord
could call in the debt owed to Him at any time. However, because He is a
perfect gentlemen, He allows us to "make
payment". We must come to accept that we will only be able to do this as
we allow Him to make over our attitude—wherein
lies perhaps our greatest debt. It is not a small thing that, as black-hearted
and filthy as we were, the God of the very universe humbled Himself
to the punishment of a common criminal. Even so, we can find all manner of
reasons to be unhappy with what we never could have accomplished.
Salvation
is neither a birthright nor a cheap "bauble," but rather, a privileged
"gift". In it is all life, happiness and
contentment. Outside of it is all misery, death and
destruction. If you are reading this and you are part of the former, what
and Who would you say that you owe?