Debt is a great burden. Avoid it. A man becomes a slave to his creditor, and is no longer free. No wonder that some sensitive folks cower down at the fear of getting into debt.
A schoolmaster who maintained a high character for strict honesty, and paid his way like a man, fell ill. Worse than that, all his children became ill; consequently, during a long period, in which they were cared for by a clever physician, a big account was unavoidably run up with the doctor.
The schoolmaster felt great apprehension about this bill, and dreaded to ask for it.
One day there arrived an envelope from the doctor containing his account; the poor man put it aside unopened, and spent many weary days dreading to face the large sum which must be due. It became such a bugbear to him that, at last, he broke open the letter, and to his amazement, found that instead of a long bill for attendance and medicines, it contained simply a stamped receipt for the whole amount in full. The kind Christian doctor felt for the man's poor circumstances, and frankly forgave him the entire debt.
Then what a revulsion took place in his mind! He exclaimed,
"O! it's too good to be true!”
But he again cast his eyes upon the receipted bill and his heart was filled with gratitude and joy as he saw it was not too good to be true.
This is just how the Gospel message is too often treated. You have been running up a long account; there is a great bill of sins against you to which you are daily adding. It is a perfectly hopeless task to think of paying it off. Does it not weigh on your mind? And are there not times when you feel that the day of reckoning must come sooner or later?
And yet, all the time you have only to open your Bible to find a receipted bill for you there.
The Son of Man came to proclaim forgiveness—to give His life "a ransom for many.”
Jesus Christ came into the world to save you, to pay your debt—just because you could not pay it, just because you could do nothing to save yourself. All has been done by Him. "It is finished." Everything is made ready for you: you have but to take the bill in your hand to see that it is receipted. See in God's Word the guarantee that your debt is paid. Look at it, man! Look at it! Do not say, "It is too good to be true," but with believing eyes and heart, accept the Lord Jesus as your sin-bearer and ransom, and thank God for such a great salvation.