Do you know what the word owe means? It means to have an obligation to pay. In Romans 13:8, Paul says this obligation can be summed up in one word: love. You see, as Christians, we are all debtors; we have an obligation to pay a debt. It's true, we owe the world.
This means, when there are cross words or a flashing finger from an angry driver—we owe love. When there is family hurt and un-forgiveness—we owe love. When there is a fellow employee who seems bent to take you down to their level of bitterness—we owe love. And, brothers and sisters in Christ, when there are people from other parts of the world, with stories you might not understand or would rather judge based on your own culture---you owe love. Paul says there’s no other way to fulfill the law. (And he goes on to say that we will do this because we know that the time is short; salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed).
None of us knows the day or the hour of Christ’s return, but we know that He’s coming back. We just can’t give the world an excuse to say “we never saw Him coming” because of the behavior of those of us who wear His name.
So, remember this today. You and I have an obligation to the world; a debt to pay. It won’t break our bank account, or set us back for the next several years, but as we begin to pay this debt we will allow the Spirit to change our life. And it just might change someone else’s destiny.
