Here’s a good one when in doubt: Always/Never.
Always owe love; never pay back evil.
Romans 13:8 ¶ Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled {the} law.
This text gripped me during my junior year in Bible college. I had never heard it referred to except someone saying something about our finances, which is a faulty interpretation based on a feeble observation. This verse is smack dab in the middle of a discussion of our debt to society. How should we then live?
Do you want a truth that will energize your spiritual life as possibly nothing else? Then live this truth: Owe nothing but love. In your day-to-day, everyday, mundane, people-connected real world, live these words.
And you will see your world differently. God will bring you behind the curtain, Dorothy, and show you who is really pulling the levers.
You will have an understanding of people and of God that you never knew possible. . .
Because you will begin a process of seeing the people around you and the world you live in and the God you trust less and less through the “lens of you.”
You will become less egocentric and more Christ-centric.
How many people have I seen through the “me lens” who offended me, and then I quickly changed to the “always owe love” lens and then saw someone who was not a competitor but someone who needed a God person in his or her life.
And, yippee, God plopped me right in her path.
“Always owe” can change the complexion of a relationship in a moment as God presents himself to your humbled spirit.
The flip side of “always owe” is never “pay back.”
Romans 12:17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men.
Feel slighted, rejected, hurt feelings, attacked, insulted.
Perfect opportunity for God to give you new insight into how he views people and how he does things.
Never pay back the evil. Never return the insult or the harsh word. Never manipulate people to harm someone.
I don’t know if you are listening or believing, but you will grow in Christ as never before.
