It's hard to explain where inspiration comes from. A great book, a hard-hitting speech, insight about a scientific breakthrough - they often come from out of nowhere. Or so it seems.
Coming to a new understanding about God is inspirational too, by definition. Prepare your heart to follow the Spirit's leading.
So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh — for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Romans 8:12-13
Debt. Whether it’s your car payment, credit cards, or the lunch money we forgot and had to borrow from the school cafeteria, someone else paid up front and our debt is what we owe them. (Let’s not even mention the national debt. Your computer might explode!)
Paul reminds us that we are truly alive when we realize that Jesus paid up front for our sins, and that the only debt we now owe is one of gratitude. How much did it cost God to pay our debt? Kyle Matthews says it better than anyone in his song, “A Son of My Own”:
I could never love the world like you do, Lord.
I’ve seen how much it cost you, and I know
I could never love the world like you do, Lord.
Since I’ve had a son of my own.
Steve Cothran
Giving God, because you gave everything for me, help me live gratefully by giving everything I am back to you. Amen.
Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!
Romans 15:13 (The Message)