Article July 15, 1933 Issue

Our Debts

R. THEODORRE PELLY

How common it is, especially in times of so-called trade depression, to hear people complain of being crushed by a load of debt! This problem at times assumes such alarming proportions that the sufferers may believe themselves driven to take some desperate measures. And those who are able to meet their obligations are apt to groan over the bills delivered each month. This sense of burden is due to fear that one may be crushed or made bankrupt by a hard creditor, or fear that the meeting of these obligations will prevent the fulfilling of some cherished desire. Debtors would readily admit that if this load of debt were removed they would have nothing to fear and would be happy.

But how is this burden to be removed? In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy we find on page 120 these words: "Science reverses the false testimony of the physical senses, and by this reversal mortals arrive at the fundamental facts of being." How is fear to be removed—reversed? The Bible tells us that "there is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear." More love, then, is what is required if one would be freed from fear. How can love be applied, and where may be found the reason for loving? We may have regarded our creditor as a potential enemy, one who is ready to crush us by demanding a settlement. But is this a just point of view? Has not this creditor done us a service? Has he not, perhaps, supplied us with goods that we needed, or otherwise assisted us?

Paul says, "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another." Here, then, is our debt—to love our creditor, to be grateful for the service he has rendered us in the past. And when this attitude replaces that of fearfulness, repayment becomes a joy, even if it can be accomplished only by small installments. The money paid becomes "love currency" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 14), and a bill received, instead of calling forth a groan, is seen as a reminder that here is an opportunity to make loving return for good service, in a word, to bring out the fact of Love's reflection.

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