Unable To Pay

There was once a benevolent medical doctor who would often check his books for debts that had NOT been paid.  Sometimes he would place a RED mark through those debts and write:  “Forgiven, unable to pay.”  The patient was released from the debt, and the doctor absorbed the loss himself.

Now it happened that the good doctor died, and his widow tried to collect those debts that were STILL outstanding.  Appearing before a judge, the widow was asked if she had any proof of the debts.  She replied, “Yes, I do.”  Then she handed the doctor’s books to the judge.

Seeing the RED marks through the unpaid amounts, the judge asked the widow if the writing was that of her husband.  When she responded affirmatively, the judge said, “Then no court in the world would give you a judgment against THESE people when your husband, with his own pen, has written, ‘Forgiven, unable to pay.”

You and I have a tremendous debt that we owe!  It is the debt of SIN (cp. Matthew 6:12).  The debt is SO GREAT that there is NO way that you or I can repay that debt. We could NEVER do enough work to pay off the debt.  Our salvation (or redemption) is “not of works lest any one should boast” (Ephesians 2:9).

However, the GOOD NEWS is that when we obey the Gospel, Jesus Christ, with His own BLOOD, writes upon the record of our debt:  “Forgiven: unable to pay.”  

When you and I place our faith in Jesus (Hebrews 11:6), repent of our sins (Acts 17:30-31), confess Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), are baptized for the forgiveness of our sins (Acts 2:38), and follow Him as a way of life (1 John 1:7), 
then Jesus absorbs the debt Himself, and releases us through forgiveness.
These are NOT works to try to EARN our salvation, but conditions of acceptance of His salvation by His grace (Ephesians 2:9).

In the words of a beloved song:

He paid a debt He did not owe;  I owed a debt I could not pay.
I needed someone to wash my sins away.
And NOW I sing a brand new song --‘Amazing Grace.’
Christ Jesus PAID the debt that I could NEVER pay!

Have YOU recognized the immense debt that you owe to God?  Have you been trying to “pay it off ”  yourself?  

Submit your life to Him, and allow Jesus -- the Great Physician -- to write across YOUR debt: “Forgiven, unable to pay.” 

Have YOU obeyed the gospel? (click here)

God bless you!  

David A. Sargent, Minister 

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695

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