Owe One Thing Only

I voted yesterday.
I performed my civic duty.

I am a US citizen living in the US. No American, indeed no singer, is more thrilled singing the inspiring words of our National Anthem than I, happily touting "the land of the free and the home of the brave."  Yet most of us are a far cry from being truly free, let alone brave. 

We are not free.
We are not brave.
We are heavily restricted.

We are ensnared by a four-letter word.

DEBT.

In fact, according to davemanuel.com, as of today's date "the current outstanding public debt of the United States is $17,535,731,914,061.53." Other than the 53 cents tacked to the trillions of dollars marking our indebtedness, my brain deems that amount unfathomable. I do, however, understand this one:

"Every man, woman, and child in the United States currently owes $57,717 for their share of the US public debt."-- a consensus reached by many financial analysts.

True statement.

We owe big bucks to China and Japan -- close to 2500 billion dollars. Whoa!

We owe money to other countries such as Belgium, Brazil, England, Taiwan, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and others.

We owe money to mutual funds, pension funds, foreign investors, American investors, oil exporters, banking centers, etc.

We owe boatloads, shiploads of money.

We are not free.

We are not brave.

We are heavily restricted.

We are lulled to sleep in the den of vipers to the tune of cozy, personal debt:

Consumer debt.

Educational loans.

Mortgage and Auto payments.

Not only are we in debt financially (hello 2.33 billion per day since 9/30/12!), but we have grievously added to our public and personal indebtedness:

We owe others our word.

We promise one thing, we do another.

We owe others our time.

We are tardy or absent for agreed-upon appointments. 

We owe others our toil.

We do all kinds of unprofitable things on company time.

We owe others our thanks.

We keep our mouths shut after receiving gifts or treatments from others.

We owe others our talents.

We prefer to settle and slide by instead of honing our skills to their optimum level.

We owe others our health.

We engage in gluttony and licentious living, significantly hampering our holistic wellness.

We sacrifice every single value we possess on the altars of greed, ingratitude, entitlement, and instant gratification -- entangling our feet and hearts and minds with more and more debt than we could ever imagine or comprehend.

Yet the one thing Scripture espouses in the debt category, we find all kinds of excuses to flee:

"Let no debt remain outstanding, 

except the continuing debt to love one another, 

for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law." 

Rom 13:8, NIV

We don't love.

We shun.
We vilify.
We accuse.
We demean.

Teach us how to love one another

Lead us to divine joy

Owe one thing only.
The only debt that fulfills or satisfies is love.

Do you and I want to be free?
We need to spend less and love more.
Do you and I want to be brave?
We need to owe nothing other than love.

Love.

Love elevates.
Love liberates.
Love permeates.

Love is the only currency that sufficiently outperforms all others. 

Genuine love heartens us to:

     -  spend money responsibly
     -  live according to our oaths
     -  have a healthy respect for time
     -  work with diligence and honesty
     -  recognize and thank our benefactors
     -  grow continually in our areas of giftedness
     -  take an honest look at our consuming habits

Love calls me to vote with my heart, not just a ballot.
Love beckons me to realize my human responsibility outshines any civic duty.
Love implores me to eradicate any filthy trace of debt (financial or otherwise), except the continuing one to treat myself, my neighbor, my country, my world, my God with respect and kindness and peace and humility and patience and grace and gratitude.

Love fulfills the law.