Brothers and sisters:
Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another;
for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. (Rm 13:8)
“You owe me.”
“I owe you.”
These phrases are quite popular among us. They are signifiers of the number of people who are in our debt as well as the number of people in whom we may be at debt. We collect these “owe me’s” and hoard them, sometimes pulling them out at a strategic moment for ourselves.
Having someone owe us is power.
Owing someone else is often seen as weakness.
Paul addresses this by telling his followers that the only thing we should owe is the debt to love one another as Jesus loved us. There is, after all, nothing greater in this earth than the love that God has for us and no greater sacrifice on this earth than the death of Jesus, who took upon Himself the sins of us all.
Nothing compares to that.
Everything else pales to that great sacrifice.
There is only one person that we owe anything and that is the Lord. We can pay back what we owe Him by living and loving as He did.
FAITH ACTION: Ask God to give you the grace to love all the people with whom you come into contact today.