Our Debt, Our Choice
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Isaiah 1:1
Debt plagues many Americans. The average credit debt is $16,140, and 800,000 individuals filed for bankruptcy in one year. Maybe you’re one of them or are afraid you will be.
The first verses of Isaiah read like a demand letter from God. “Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great!” (Isaiah 1:4). Their list of sins grew longer and longer: rebellion, doing evil, corruption, forsaking the Lord, rotten fruit.
God’s people were desolate, their cities ravaged by fire. Crops stripped by foreign raiders. Strangers laid waste to their fields. They continued charging more sin-debt to their account, unable repay.
What ran through their minds when God offered to “settle the matter?” What more could God do than He had already done?
As those with no money to satisfy their creditors, the Israelites had nothing more to offer God. What would God demand in exchange for their sinful debt?
This is where God’s mercy came in. Though they didn’t deserve it, though they had done nothing to earn it, He offered to wipe it out, clean it away.
This is precisely what Jesus does for us. When He died on the cross, He wiped out our debt by covering it in a sea of red—His blood. People may believe in Him and receive forgiveness and eternal life (John 3:16)—or they can refuse His grace. But they will also be refusing the payment He offered on their behalf.
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Darlene Franklin, a contributor to Wholly Loved’s devotional project, is a best-selling author of fiction and nonfiction works. She calls herself a "Warrior Woman" who happens to live in a nursing home. She keeps going because God keeps giving her more assignments--including beginning a Ph.D. in Biblical Exposition. She’s written seventy fiction and nonfiction books, including Pray Through the Bible in a Year, Heart of the Midwife and Love Makes You Smile. Check out a complete list of her books, visit https://darlenefranklin.com/ to stay up to date with her and her writing.
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Originally published Wednesday, 30 October 2024.
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