Paid

I paid some bills
yesterday
checks written
envelopes stamped
went online to pay
distant accounts
went to the market
paid for my sustenance
drugstore had my medication
paid there too
walked crowded sidewalks
paying emotionally for
my impatience
paid the next day for a
sleepless night
I seem to pay all day
every day
but it is not true
there was a debt
my mountainous debt
a heavy unbearable
weight
ten thousand years of
work
with all the perfection
I could muster
could not settle
that debt
so you stepped into
my dilemma
to alter my spiritual
economy
on the cross
as my substitute
you wrote the ultimate
check
I will still buy things
and pay in other ways
but
I will never carry
that debt
again.

On the cross Christ paid the debt for every selfish desire, thought, word, or deed to which you will ever give yourself.

You no longer have to be afraid to own up to your selfishness. You do not have to whitewash your thoughts and motives. You do not have to cover your sin by blaming others or by self-atoning logic. You do not have to give yourself to acts of penance (self-atonement) that make you feel better about yourself. You do not have to search for biblical passages that will give ease to your conscience.

No, your debt has been fully paid. Your punishment has been borne by Another. There is One who has taken your place and been condemned instead of you.

The Apostle Paul says, “Having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:13b—14).

As God’s child, you have been forgiven for every act of self-focused independence and rebellion. You have been freed from the debt of your every failure to love God above all else and your neighbor as yourself.

You no longer need to live in hiding. Forgiving grace welcomes you out of the darkness to lift the burden of refusal, guilt, fear, and shame off of your shoulders.

You have been invited to confess and receive the forgiveness that is yours.

God bless,

Paul Tripp

Reflection Questions

1. The next time you pay for something, remind yourself of the “ultimate check” that Christ wrote on your behalf. How should this transform the way you live in the mundane moments of your faith this week? Be specific.

2. What are some other word pictures that splash across the pages of Scripture? What physical illustrations has God provided to remind us of spiritual realities?

3. Pick one physical object (bread, rock, seed, tree, lion, something that you think you will see regularly this week) and allow the metaphor to remind you of a spiritual truth. What is the truth that you will pick?

4. How should this truth transform the way you live in the mundane moments of your faith this week? Be specific.

5. What sin or weakness are you trying to hide, or where are you trying to shift the blame? What would it practically look like to confess, receive forgiveness, and live in freedom this week?