Debt Free

TITLE: Debt-free
DATE:  August 1, 2019
TEXT: Isaiah 53: 5 – ESV -But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and by his wounds, we are healed.”
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Lately there has been a lot of talk about people refusing to pray their College loans. This devotion is not about the debt of College Loans.

Recently there has been some serious speaking about the need for one group of people to pay reparations to another group of people. This devotion isn’t about any obligation to pay off reparations.

No, this simple little devotion deals with Wyoming Valley West School District in Pennsylvania which is trying to get parents to pay off their children’s school breakfasts and meals.

Now I don’t know what efforts have been made to resolve the problem in the past. Apparently all of those attempts prove to be unsuccessful.

That explains why the District set out a letter to approximately 1,000 parents.

One parent, who owes $75.25, received a letter. In part it said, “Your child has been sent to school every day without money and without breakfast and/or lunch....this is a failure to provide your child with proper nutrition and you can be sent to Dependency Court for neglecting your child's right to food...and if that happens, the court could place the child into a foster care.”

In other words, “Pay up or lose your kids to a stranger who will raise them without your values.”

Parents who read the letter said, “You’re going to do what if I don’t pay the’ bill?”

The County’s Children’s Service Department who had just been made the bad guys and had been thrown under the bus said, “It’s a total misrepresentation, a gross misrepresentation of what our agency does.” Other County officials want the school to retract the letter.

As of this writing the school is standing firm. An attorney for the school has said parents are shameful because they were neglecting a debt related to feeding their kids.

Which takes me to the place where I have to ask, “Who is going to pay the debt for your sins?”

In the tombs of ancient Egypt many of the gods were shown carrying scales. In one side of the scale went all an individual’s good deeds, while the other side of the scale got all the bad deeds. Since the Egyptian gods were not much better than powerful people the judgment lacked a certain degree of fairness;

But not so with our Lord. He is really fair... which sounds good on paper, but means, in reality, all of us are sinners and fall short of the perfection God demands. Which is why the Lord condemns us, forever to hell’  fire.

UNLESS, unless we have an advocate, a Substitute Someone Who takes our place, takes our punishment and makes all things right.  In the Person of Jesus we find all our debts have been paid, we are forgiven and inheritors of eternal life.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, for my unpayable debts which have been paid, my eternal thanks. May others see and be brought to the Savior Who loves them even now. In Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen.

The devotion for today was inspired by various recent news articles. For further reading you may wish to go to this address: https://www.newser.com/story/278049/letter-to-parents-pay-lunch-debt-or-well-take-your-kids.html and the article written by John Johnson.
The music which introduces and concludes our devotions was written by Guy Baumann. He along with three of his brothers perform on the album: The Baumann Brothers which may be ordered here: http://thebaumannbrothers.com/index.html