Do you know what a debt is? It’s when you owe money to somebody else. The Bible says some important things about debts. It says simply, “Owe no man anything.” Romans 13:8. Many people do not follow these wise words from the Bible, and some end up with large debts and lots of trouble, because they cannot pay back what they owe.
Yosie’s debt is an unusual one because she is only three years old! That’s pretty young to have a debt, isn’t it? Yosie’s debt gets bigger every day just by her living one more day. This must sound strange, but I’ll tell you how it happened.
Yosie lives in Mexico, and when she was just a baby her mother asked a family, “Could you take care of my baby? I’ll pay you 18,000 pesos a month to look after her.”
“Okay,” the family agreed. “We’ll look after Yosie.”
So for a whole month the family took care of baby Yosie, changing diapers, bathing her, feeding her and playing with her. At the end of a month the mother came back to get her baby.
“You owe us 18,000 pesos,” the family told her.
“But I don’t have the money... I can’t pay you,” the mother said.
“Well, you can’t have Yosie back until you pay us!” the family said.
Yosie’s mother left that day, leaving Yosie behind with the family, and she never came back, not even to this day. Yosie is still with the family now, three years later, and her debt is up to 650,000 pesos! Only three years old and in debt for 650,000 pesos!
When Jesus was here on earth, He taught His disciples to pray to their Father in heaven and say, “Forgive us our debts.” Many people have memorized this prayer and have repeated it many times. But have you ever stopped to think about what sort of “debt” it is that a person could owe God? It’s not a debt of money, but it’s the debt of our sins. God is the One who made us, and every sin that we do is like another debt to God who is holy.
Yosie owes many thousands of pesos when she is only three, but is it possible that you, at 8, 10 or 12 years old, owe an even larger debt to God? How many years have you lived, adding more sins all the time? What would it take to pay for those sins? The Bible says that it would take forever in the lake of fire for a person to pay for his own sins.
But I have good news for you! God sent His own Son into this world to pay the debt we owe for our sins. The Lord Jesus suffered and died on the cross to forgive our debt of sins. The Bible tells us that those of us who have come to Jesus for salvation have been “purchased with His own blood.” Acts 20:28. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7. For those who have come to Jesus with their sins, the debt is wiped clean; nothing more is owed!
Yosie’s debt is still growing larger every day. Every day she stays with that family, she owes more money. And you? If you have never come to Jesus for salvation, then every day you live and sin, your debt to God is growing larger. Wouldn’t you like to have it all paid? Just tell the Lord Jesus, right now, that you have this debt of sin and want to be free from it all. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:13.
There are other children like Yosie in Mexico, children whose mothers cannot or will not pay what they owe for their care. If you have already had your debt of sins forgiven, maybe you will pray that Yosie, and others like her, will have their debt of sins forgiven even if they never have their debt of money paid. Some of them are learning to sing, “Jesus loves me,” and are learning even now while they are still young the verse, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” 1 Timothy 1:15.
But if you still have your debt of sins, let Yosie’s debt be a warning to you. Come to Jesus to have your debt forgiven before it grows any larger!
“Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.” Romans 4:7.
ML-11/22/1992