COLOSSIANS 2:13-14
DEBT CANCELLED
Colossians 2:13-14 (BSB) When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses, having canceledG1813 the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross!
G1813 ĕxalĕiphō – to smear out, i.e. obliterate (erase tears, fig. pardon sin): – blot out, wipe away.
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
Like erasing words on a white board,
You wiped away my sin.
You left no trace of transgression
and brought me to life again!
I (Susie) have had an interesting array of jobs in my life, and one of the best was the venue God worked through to give me my children. That one also involves a story of canceled debt. Howard originally hired me to keep an eye on his teenagers while he traveled with his job. That evolved into helping them with their home-schooling as well. Then I quit my full-time teaching job and spent every morning teaching Tom and Esther. Howard purchased a new home computer and printer to enable me to work from home transcribing, to be able to create lessons for his children, and to allow them to type reports and stories at my house. The understanding was that I would deduct a small monthly payment for the computer from the bill I sent to Howard. After just a couple of months of slowly paying him back for the computer, Howard canceled that debt telling me not to deduct it from my wages anymore. What a generous gift!
An old chorus begins, “I owed a debt I could not pay.” The deficit created by our sin was comparable to owing millions of dollars with interest compounded daily. There was no way we would ever be able to satisfy the righteous requirements of God. However, Jesus obliterated that debt when he died on the cross in my place. He nailed our bill to the cross marked “paid in full.” When we realize what Christ has done for us, we go from being dead and defeated by our sin to being forgiven and alive in the Lord. God also allows us to start fresh with him each day by confessing our sins and allowing him to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9).
Lord Jesus, thank you for paying our debt on the cross. May the change you’ve wrought in our lives bring honor and glory to you. Help us to express our gratitude in service to you and enable us to show others how to be debt free.
P.S. As of today, we have completely paid off Susie’s credit cards. She came into our roommate situation with credit card debt over $15,000. We are now free of that debt! PRAISE THE LORD!!!