Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. (Romans 13:7, ESV)
I don’t like playing for money. More accurately, I don’t like losing money I’ve spent good effort earning. So if you want to play for a drinks after the round, or even lunch, I’m in. But that’s it, because I’ve also found friends with whom I can enjoy competitive games while playing for nothing at all.
That said, plenty of golfers find the game more “interesting” if they have something on the line. And one thing I know to be true among these bettors is that they have respect for a certain kind of player: the one who pays his debts quickly.
As committed to paying for everything with cash as one may be, the specter of debt has haunted nearly all of us at one time or another. The loss of a job, the failure of an investment, the irresponsibility of an employee, or a double bogey at the last hole when the press is on—these are the kinds of hiccups, big and small, that can cause us to feel the weight of a financial burden.
But what of these other imperatives: respect, honor, and love? How much do we really owe, and what is the best way to pay it?In its way of inserting the spiritual into the practical and the relational, Scripture takes up the matter of debt in the letter of Paul to the Romans. Here Paul wrote that there are several kinds of debt we may owe: taxes, revenue, respect, and honor. Then he went on: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8). We don’t have the option to overlook our debts on earth because our eyes are fixed on heaven. What we owe, we should pay.
While taxes are a touch point for many—and especially for those who think their political party has the best plan for us all—these fiscal obligations are pretty straightforward. The numbers make it clear what we owe. The same is true with revenue: our profits are to be shared with our partners as we have agreed upon.
But what of these other imperatives: respect, honor, and love? How much do we really owe, and what is the best way to pay it? Maybe the best start to answering these questions lies with Paul’s teaching as well, for he continued that all laws of God—don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t covet, and more—are “summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” It’s not just the gamblers who love it when debtors pay up; we all do. And thus, we know full well what our rule is when we’re the ones who owe. We are to pay and quickly if we are Christ’s people.
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Jeff Hopper
October 30, 2020
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.