How Big Is God's Credit Limit?

Not all credit cards rest in our wallets. Some are issued by our parents, our children, our spouses and our employers. Some are used often. Others are never used. Many people don't use the card issued by their employers. They are afraid of the loan being called in. Nearly everyone uses the one issued by their spouses.

Credit is used when the bill isn't completely paid. We are to be excellent to one another. The failure to do so means we are accruing debt with that person. Being late for work means credit must be used. And just like at the store, the same thing may cost differently with different employers. The employer has to decide whether keeping you is costing him more than letting you go. Being late will push some employers off the edge.

Thus it goes with all the people we are around. Those to whom we matter and they matter to us give us credit. They overlook so much. It is on credit. They permit so much. That, too, is credit. Children are given a huge credit limit; parents, not so much. A spouse gives credit based on a credit history. The bottom line remains the same though: does it cost more to keep you around than to let you go?

We live on credit with God too. We fall short of His glory. We are less than excellent to Him. Sin is a matter of failing to give God glory. It comes through doing wrong things and failing to do right things. We don't do right things right.

How big is God's credit limit? In other words, when does God say its better to let you go than to keep you?

So many times I have gone some distance from God before I noticed how deep in debt I have gotten with Him. I have had many heart talks with God. I have had many confessions. I have felt anguish as I admitted how far I have been away from Him. It is then that He has shown me the cross one more time. It is then that He has pointed to His Son and said, "Paid in full."

Now, I don't want to use my credit limit with God as an excuse for licentious behavior. But when the time comes, when I have had enough of myself and found that I am empty, I come back to pay my debt and find that it has already been paid.

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

1 Peter 2:24 (NIV)
²⁴ He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.