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The Credit Crunch

Our nation is currently experiencing a credit crunch. According to Wikipedia "a credit crunch is a sudden reduction in the availability of loans or "credit" or a sudden increase in the cost of obtaining a loan from the banks." I do not pretend to understand this subject or know how to resolve the current crisis but it started me thinking about credit.

What is credit? You are granted credit when an organisation or individual makes a sum of money available for you to borrow. Generally speaking we need credit in order to buy our homes as well as other expensive purchases. Most of us will have at least one credit card that we can use for whatever purchases we need. We are able to spend our credit up to a certain limit agreed by our credit card company. I cannot imagine a society where credit did not exist. How would we buy our homes and other expensive items if no one gave us credit? 

Credit is basically a debt that we owe and are obligated to pay. The only honest way to get out of debt is to pay what we owe to our creditors. When the debt has been paid in full then we are no longer obligated to the organisation or person who lent us the money.

The Bible teaches that each one of us is in debt to God. Modern versions of the Lord's Prayer express this truth like this: "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Matthew chapter 6 verse 12). As I said a debt is something we owe and we owe our total obedience to God who is our Creator. We owe Him our love for we are commanded to love Him with all our heart, soul and mind; this is described as the greatest commandment in Matthew chapter 22 verses 37-38.

The truth is that there is no one who loves God like that. We also frequently fail to obey Him and therefore we are debtors to God. But how do we pay our debt to God? The answer to that question is that we can't. Many people try by good works and religious activity but the Bible tells us that we are unable to pay our debt because even our best effort is spoilt by sin.

The remarkable thing about the Christian message is that God is the only one who is able to cancel our debt and that is why He sent Jesus. Jesus lived upon this earth with the sole purpose of dying on behalf of others and by so doing Jesus was paying the debt of sin that we owe. God was punishing Jesus for our sin and therefore all that ask Him for forgiveness will have their debt of sin removed by God. This is the message that our church proclaims. Why not come along to our services and activities and meet some people who have had their debt cancelled by God?