So Great A Debt

According to USA Today’s Maria Puente, music star Kanye West recently tweeted (sent a message on Twitter): “I write this to you my brothers while still 53 million dollars in personal debt… Please pray we overcome… This is my true heart….” (USAToday.com).  When West heard that Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla were going to give away some of their billions to philanthropic causes, West tweeted that he wanted to be a recipient of some of that charity:  “Mark Zuckerberg, invest 1 billion dollars into Kanye West ideas.”  Why should Zuckerberg invest in West?  Because according to his own assessment, West is “the greatest living artist and the greatest artist of all time,” and because West says: “I want to help the world and I need help to do it. I am an artist and I care about humanity.”

$53 million?!?  How can one person amass that much debt?  Most of us cannot imagine that amount of debt, and we certainly cannot fathom being able to pay it back!

Maybe West’s troubles help us understand some of our own…

Because of our sin, we are in debt.  Our debt is so great; none of us has the personal resources to pay it.  Neal Pollard points out that “in a spiritual sense, we all face a debt infinitely greater” than that of Kanye West.  Pollard directs us to a parable that Jesus told: “The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant” in Matthew 18:21-35 (please read the text).  In short, Jesus teaches us that we should forgive others because God has forgiven our debt.  How great is our debt?

In Jesus’ parable, you and I are to see ourselves in the servant who was forgiven of a debt of 10,000 talents.  How much is that?  Note Pollard’s research: “Biola University business professor Philip Massey did some modern-day math equivalency with that figure and estimates in 21st Century dollars that debt would be $7.04 billion dollars.”  Do you have that kind of money?  Jesus is teaching us that each of us is a debtor and that none of us can pay the debt.  We are totally reliant on the mercy of God.

The good news (the Gospel) is that God loves us so much that He paid our debt!  God gave His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), to pay our debt and give us the gift of eternal life.

In order to receive His offer of salvation and eternal life, we must place our faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from our sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  Then, as we continue to walk in the light of His Word, the blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us from sin (1 John 1:7).

“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 a debt that I could never pay.”
-- Ellis J. Crum

Even $53 million doesn’t compare to the debt that we owe to God; our debt is too great.  Only God can pay that, and He has – through the gift of His Son Jesus.

Won’t YOU accept His offer of salvation and eternal life on His terms?

-- David A. Sargent

* Sources:  “Kanye West tweets he is $53 million in 'personal debt'” by Maria Puente, USA TODAY, and Neal Pollard’s article “Can You Imagine Being $53 Million In Debt?” in Daily Bread (2/15/16), an e-mail ministry of the Bear Valley church of Christ in Denver, CO.

David A. Sargent, Minister