Clearing the debt.
We thought that the MP's expenses fiasco had long since died down. But, all of a sudden, it reappeared as a new parliamentary season started up. 'The atmosphere at Westminster is a mixture of fear, anxiety, anger and dismay' as one newspaper article put it. News reports polarised into recording the calm resignation of those who accepted their 'no win' position and also the blistering attacks on the 'unreasonable' demand for the repayment of expenses, now considered as debts. The controversy was heightened by the retrospective analysis: the rules had changed on what had been previously signed off as a legitimate expenses claim.

The problem of debt is a heavy burden to shoulder. It is this idea that is used as an analogy in Christian thought to help us to understand the problem we have before God and the enormity of his generosity so that we can have our name cleared. The idea of debt was brought to the attention of Jesus' followers by the apostle Paul. He does this in order to explain how Jesus alone can deal with the spiritual debt we all carry. Putting it bluntly, he reminds the Christians in Colossae that they were effectively dead in the water due to their huge weight of debt: 'And you, who were dead in your trespassesŒGod made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demand. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross' (Colossians 2v13-14).

It's sheer foolishness to think that our good deeds may one day outweigh our bad deeds. It's firstly simply not true, as we do not honour God as we should - we fail to obey the command to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and also to love our neighbours as ourselves. It's secondly not the way we can get right with God. How can we possibly deal with the enormity of the problem that cuts us off from God by ourselves? The verse shows that it is only by trusting in the unique work of Jesus Christ, who suffered and died for our forgiveness, that this debt can be cancelled. God's rules have not suddenly been revised or applied retrospectively. His justice is perfect. His grace is amazing. His invitation to have our debts cancelled still holds good.

I hope that this is your conviction and delight.

Yours in Christ,

Paul Kingman
Nov. 09