Trying not to have a Debtor’s Ethic:

One of my favorite theologian writers is John Piper. He provides amazing insight for how one should live if they are to be a Christian.  I have just started the book, “Future Grace.” This book introduced a concept that I had never thought of, and one that I am very guilty of.  I often will fall under the debtor’s ethic.  It is having gratitude, but that gratitude almost feels like a burden that needs to be rectified.  

A debtor’s ethic is when you feel the need to repay someone for the good deed that they gave to you.  For example, if they do you a favor, then you instantly want to do a favor for them in order to pay them back.  Not in the sense of returning a favor when the times call for it like one day you need a ride because your car is in the shop, so you catch a ride from your friend.  Then a few months later your friend now needs work done on their car and needs a ride, so you give them a ride.  That isn’t necessarily a debtor’s ethic situation.  This is just being a good friend, both ways.  When one is in crisis, the other helps.  However, having a debtor’s ethic conviction is that feeling of necessity to repay someone once they have done something kind for you.  

I personally really struggle with this concept.  I tend to feel the need to pay back someone once they have done something nice for me.  I wish I didn’t feel this way.  I wish I just felt happy with their gift, their service, or their kind words.  I can’t accept whatever they are giving me without feeling that I now owe them.   I never would have thought of that being a problem before.  I would never have described that as feeling like a debt that I need to repay.  I just always considered that being polite and the natural reaction to good deeds.  However, I am now realizing that when someone does something kind, I should just accept it as a kind gift.  They are probably excited to be showing service or love to someone, and I should be a very happy benefactor of that, not as though they have now given me a chore of debt that I need to repay to them before the week is over. 

I also will be honest that I struggle with this the other way around.  When I kindly go out of my way and give a nice gift or spend some time in servitude to my friends or the people near me, I am hoping that they will be thinking of the kind ways they can pay it back to me.  I know that is not something I should do, and I have been trying to find ways to fight against this selfish inclination, but it is something I resort to here and there.  In 1 Corinthians 13:5 (Which is part of the love chapter) says, “It (love) does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”  This is a good reminder for me that I am not showing true love if I care more about what I can get out of it as opposed to what can best benefit the other person.  

This really becomes a problem when someone feels as though they owe God for everything he has done.  Yes, we should have a desire to please God and to serve him, but we shouldn’t ever feel as though we can pay him back for what he has done for us in the past.  One quote that came up in this first chapter of John Piper’s book was “God meant gratitude to be a spontaneous expression of pleasure in the gift and the good will of another.  He did not mean it to be an impulse to return favors.  If gratitude is twisted into a sense of debt, it gives birth to the debtor’s ethic- and the effect is to nullify grace.” (Future Grace, page 30)  

I personally have struggled with that a bit from time to time as well.  I don’t try to, but there are times when I will feel as though I need to do a certain action in order to make it up to God for the good works that he has done for me.  While yes, it is important to serve God and to know how we can best praise him, it shouldn’t be done in a way of legalism or the act of praising God because we feel as though we have to, not because we have a desire or a love to.  Legalism focuses more on religious rules and regulations as opposed to having a relationship with Christ.  

Piper’s main point is that we should not focus on doing service to God because we feel we owe him, but rather because we have seen his good works and we have seen his grace in the past, that we should be grateful and filled with love as well as have faith in his future actions. We have seen the way that he has taken care of us and we need to have faith that he will have that same care and love for us in the future.  

This next week, I do have a few challenges.  First, I want you to notice someone doing something nice for you.  This could be anything.  This could be showing you a service such as grabbing you a cup of coffee, helping you at your job, or even paying you a kind compliment or encouragement.  However, you are to just to thank them and let that good deed fill you with happiness.  Don’t feel the need to repay them back.  Let their nice deed, be just that, a nice deed, and then let your gratitude be just that, gratitude.  Then the second one is to take some time and give God a prayer that is simply filled with gratitude and praise.  This is focusing on the good that God has done and how great he really, truly is.