The Only Good Debt

There’s one kind of debt in the world that will actually make you richer

The only good debt out there is a debt of love.

Here’s something important to remember about about, money and love. God doesn’t want us to be financially indebted to anyone, because that holds us back in life. But He does want us to be spiritually indebted to each other. Because our spiritual bonds create a continuing obligation of love.

That’s the only kind of debt that makes everyone richer.

The Debt of Love

This idea comes from Romans 13:7-8. In this passage, Paul is transitioning between two teachings. He just finished a discussion of why it’s important to obey civil authorities. Next, he will explain how love is the fulfillment of God’s law. In making the transition between these two ideas, he brings up the relationship between debt and love.

7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.

This passage isn’t just a warning against borrowing money (although you should definitely avoid it). It goes beyond that to teach us something powerful about the nature of love.

The only debt that we should carry is the obligation to love one another. No matter how much we pay, we’ll never settle it entirely. And that is God’s intention.

Paying it Forward

When you owe something to someone, you can’t immediately repay them. And the same is true of love.

We have all received abundantly from God’s eternal love for us. We never deserved His love. And we can never repay Him for it. He doesn’t ask us to. Instead, He asks us to pay it forward by continually loving each other.

When you love someone who doesn’t deserve it, you’re repaying the love  God has given you.

It gets even better. The beauty of love is that it’s not a zero-sum game. Loving you doesn’t deplete my resources of love to give to other people. Instead, love multiplies as it is given.

The more I love you, the more God enlarges my heart to love other people. And you’ll have more love to give the people in your life, too.

Borrowing money restricts us and makes us poor. But the debt of love enlarges us and makes us spiritually rich.

Unfortunately, financial entanglements can hold us back from loving people generously. That’s why God wants us to avoid borrowing money. The more freedom we have in our resources, the more abundant we can be in our love for each other.

When we turn our focus to loving people, everybody wins.