PAID IN FULL

        I was shopping for a few things the other day and accidentally left without paying. I had asked the woman at the self-checkout line for assistance, then slid my card through the card reader, picked up my items and started walking away. She stopped me and said, "You need to pay." I thought she meant I had forgotten to take my receipt, but it turned out I hadn't paid at all. At that store the machine needed to "read" my credit card chip on the front, not the stripe on the back. After getting that done and waiting long enough to satisfy the fussy machine, I took my things and left.
       It reminded me of a time a few years ago that I paid for the things in my shopping basket but failed to pay for the candy car I held in my hand. I got out to the car and realized my error, so I walked back into the store and told the cashier I needed to pay for my Snickers bar. "Long way to come for 47 cents." she said with a smile. "Wouldn't taste as good if I hadn't," I told her. "I like your ring," she said, glancing at my wedding band with its cross. "It keeps me in line," I said.
         We all need to pay our bills, no matter how small. It isn't as if life would come tumbling around our ears if we missed paying for a candy bar, but paying our bills is part of being a human being, especially a Christian one. No matter how large or small, we owe it to others, ourselves and to God to pay what we owe. The only bill we can't pay, of course, is the one for our sins. That one only Jesus can handle, and He did it perfectly and completely on Calvary.
         Earlier this summer we paid off our home. After thirty years of making large monthly payments, it was rather anticlimactic that we didn't receive something in the mail that said, "PAID IN FULL." In fact we received nothing about it, so I called the mortgage company which said there was no need, since they released their lien on our deed. Without any fanfare, our mortgage was PAID IN FULL and the house was fully ours.
         "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors," Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord's Prayer, and He does. It's all too easy these days to "Buy Now and Pay Later." Worldwide credit card debt is enormous, and don't get me started on our government's debt. People must pay their debts.
         I urge all my readers to find a way to pay off their credit card debt as soon as possible, then pay it in full each month. It is a good feeling not to get that bill any more with its high interest rate. It is a far better feeling to know Christ our Lord has paid off our debt of sin on the cross.

What debt to you need to pay first?