The Minimum Due

Debt is a big issue in the United States. The level of debt undertaken in the last few years alone by the United States government is unprecedented. Debt should always be a high priority, but at its current state, it has become something that is going to be destructive unless action is taken quickly to remove it. The government is not the only entity that has strapped itself to debt. A great number of Americans have done so. A great number of people worldwide have done so. Do not be mislead into thinking debt is a modern problem. Debt is an issue that mankind has had to deal with throughout its history. How do men choose to pay back debts? Do they pay them off as fast as possible? Do they pay them off in one lump sum? Do they make little payments over time? The issue I want to examine in this article is those who choose to always pay the minimum due.

When debt is mentioned in a religious setting, the burden of a sinful world is often the first thing which comes to mind. That debt was paid at the cross by Jesus and is available for all those that would put on Christ. There is no issue of paying a minimum due. It is all or nothing.

• Colossians 2:13-14 – And you, being dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, you, I say, did he make alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses; having blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us: and he hath taken it out that way, nailing it to the cross;

Let’s look at the debt following the cross. Now some believe that following the cross, there is no debt to be paid of any kind. However, there is indeed obligation. Man is by nature a servant. He is a servant to death or life, darkness or light, the God of this world or the God of eternity.

• Romans 6:16 – Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

The fact is, God gave the gift of his Son, which was free. He said enjoy the freedom from the debt of sins. This gift is much like a horse though. A father can give his daughter a horse and say, “This is a gift for you. It is free”. However, that does not mean that daughter is free from obligation in regard to the horse. She has to feed it. She has to water it. She has to exercise and care for it. She should do this out of love for the horse. If she does not care for it, the gift will cease to be. The girl is not trying to earn anything, but she understands there are responsibilities involved in enjoying the gift. She in a sense, becomes a servant to the horse, though it was a free gift she chose to accept.

So if there is obligation to God after the cross, what is it? There are a great number of obligations that come under the cross, though not burdensome. He would have men teach others about his plan for salvation (2 Timothy 2:24). He desires man communicate with him through prayer (I Thessalonians 5:17). He directs man be good, kind, loving, joyful, patient, peaceful, humble, and have self control (Galatians 5:23). He emphasizes man cannot engage in sinful actions as the world. (Galatians 5:19-21). The fact is there are a number of items he guides man to follow that are not optional. Christ himself stated:

• Matthew 11:29-30 – Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

As a boy, I had a number of chores to do around my house. I chopped wood, cleaned stalls, picked up rocks and sticks out of the field, piled brush, skinned poles, emptied trash, cleaned my room, etc. Sometimes, I didn’t do the best job in the world. I did what I had to do so I could move on to something else. I admit even today, when my wife asks me to clean up the house, sometimes I do what I call “Clean the obvious”. It’s the minimum that I can do. Somewhere along the line, either as a boy or a man, I heard the following phrase applied to me at times: “never let it be said that you didn’t do the least you could do – the very least”. Underlying that comment are lessons to be learned.

When man always pay the minimum due, who does it please?
When man does just what he can do to be acceptable, this has the potential of pleasing only himself. Take for instance the man who sees assembling on Sundays as a ticket punch. He met a command of God, the conscience is eased, and now he can hit the road. He is happy. This is pretty common for folks who are immature in their faith. They skip study classes, sit through a sermon, and then they are gone until the next Sunday. They are not seen or heard from during the week, and sometimes they may disappear for weeks. They are pleased with themselves, but are others pleased? The answer to that is no. They have failed in comforting, loving, encouraging, and edifying the saints. Rather, they have acted as a reminder that the world still has a hold on even people claiming to be Christians.

• Philemon 1:4-7 – I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.

• Hebrews 10:24-25 – And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

• Romans 14:19 So then let us follow after things which make for peace, and things whereby we may edify one another.

Can God be pleased with someone just meeting the minimum? Is just showing up every time the victory? In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 three individuals were entrusted to care for their masters money. Two of them worked to gain increase for their master. The third simply kept and returned what the master had given him. He did the minimum of what was expected. Here is the Master’s response:

• Matthew 25:26-27 – But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.

God is not pleased with a minimum effort, other Christians are not pleased to be given a minimum effort, so it seems the only person who can be pleased with always paying the minimum due is self.

When man always pay the minimum due, it says something about his character.
An individual who does nothing more than just work enough to get by is often frowned on by society. Why? He is viewed as someone who has no ambition, does not prepare for the future, and the likely candidate to be first looking for a handout. If man serves God doing only what he must do, then it demonstrates a lack of vital characteristics which God desires for every man. The man who is operating only to do the minimum is first lacking in love. He is like a man who thinks just bringing home a paycheck is all that is required of him as a father and husband. That type of man will often find that one day his wife and children are no longer there. A loving husband and father realizes there is nurturing, listening, teaching, discipline, sharing, and much more that goes into a loving relationship. A man who loves God will be attentive to conform his life to behaviors which please God. God will be his priority.

• 1 Corinthians 13:3 – If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Second, a man who seeks only to do the minimum displays that he is ungrateful for the blessings God has provided. God has offered salvation to all, not based on anything that man has done to deserve it. Yet, a man who always does the minimum shows he doesn’t really care what God did. His actions demonstrate he doesn’t appreciate God’s care for man. His behaviors characterize someone who thinks he is going to skip by with a heart that is not in the right place. He is essentially taking advantage of God’s grace.

• Colossians 3:16 – Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

• 2 Corinthians 6:1 – Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

• Luke 17:9-10 – Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

When man always pay the minimum due, it affects his mental state negatively.
Man was made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). That is to say he was made sinless, pure, and capable to love as God should be loved. When a young man courts a young woman, he wants to do all he can to show how much he loves her. He will do anything she requests. He opens car doors, pulls out chairs, doesn’t belch in front of her, dresses nice, compliments her, and a host of other niceties. Unfortunately, some men stop practicing these things once they are married. The woman fails to mention the change immediately. So he starts to learn he can get away without doing his best against his own better instincts. He is cheating himself and his bride and begins to think such behavior is acceptable. Of course, that is a two way street. She also changes aspects that she used to focus on to please him. She tries to get by with the minimum. Essentially, we have two people engaging in laziness.

• Ephesians 5:33 – However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

When a person puts on Christ in baptism, he declares that his life is no longer his own (Romans 6:10-12). Man realizes he should not give a minimal effort but make God the priority of his life (Matthew 6:33). The Apostle Paul understood this well and worked hard in his service toward God.

• Acts 24:16 – So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.

However, as men harden their consciences, the lazy passions of their flesh take over. They act contradictory to their own created nature and common sense. They alter their own thinking. They become numb to their actions and persist in trying to get by paying the minimum due to God – to their own detriment.

When man always pays the minimum due, he keeps himself under bondage longer.
Financially speaking, if a man chooses to pay the minimum due on 25,000 – say $600 a month – he is going to be paying a long time on his bill. Of course, if he pays it all at once, then his budget is no longer subject to the bondage of a lender. Man talks a lot about freedom. Yet, he continually shackles himself with debt, limiting his own freedom.

Spiritually speaking when man gives a minimum effort to God, he puts himself back in bondage to Sin and Satan when he should be free. He ignores the full command of God and is no longer pleasing to him. He is empty when he should be full of the works of God. It is much like what Jesus Shared in:

• Matthew 12:43-45:”When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first.

When man always pays the minimum due, there is a greater chance he will never get out of debt.
What often happens to folks in debt who determine to only pay the minimum balance, is they never get out of debt. Credit card companies know this. They understand they longer a person is in debt, the less chance he has of saving. Saving is essentially preparation for the future. When no preparation for the future and financial problems occur, men go deeper into debt. The deeper man goes into a hole, the harder it is to get back out.

The longer a man chooses to give the minimum to God, the more likely he is not to change. He convinces himself he is righteous or he convinces himself he can’t do better. He makes a plan to change tomorrow, but tomorrow never comes.

• 2 Corinthians 6:2 – (for he saith, At an acceptable time I hearkened unto thee, And in a day of salvation did I succor thee: behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation):

There is no better time to stop doing the minimum for God and start giving him maximum priority than right now.

When man always pays the minimum due, he loses the maximum.
How many great opportunities does man miss out on when he is enslaved in debt? There are so many great things that I personally could have been involved in were in not for carrying the burden of debt so long. Unfortunately, I have missed out by paying the minimum.

What opportunities does man miss, when he does the least he can do for God?

• If he attends minimally, he fails to encourage and comfort a great many (I Thessalonians 5:11, 2 Corinthians 1:2-5).

• If he gives minimally, he misses out on the joy and blessing of aiding the needy (2 Corinthians 8:1-5).

• If he studies minimally, he miss out on opportunities to defend the truth (I Peter 3:15), save souls from the fires of hell (Jude 1:20-23), and grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ (II Peter 3:18).

• If he engages a minimum Christian lifestyle he misses out on the opportunity to be a good example (I Timothy 4:12), and be an elder or deacon in the Church (I Timothy 3).

• If he only offers God a minimum, he misses out on salvation which was given to him (2 Peter. 2:20).

I love to fish. I don’t know a man who if he had the biggest fish of his life on the other end would do the minimum amount to land it. Yet, the greatest blessing ever given to man has hopped in the boat and man through his lack of interest is going to let it hop right back out of the boat.

What if all you can do is give the minimum?
Understand that there are times in life when all you can pay is the minimum due. My family and I have been through some tough financial situations. The minimum is all we could do. Large obligations loomed over our heads, but hitting the minimum was all we could do. Of course, the Bible has an example of exactly this.

• Mark 12:42-44 – And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

We often talk about this kind of effort when training up children. We tell them, “Do the best you can do”. They are worried they cannot “be the best” in school, sports, relationships, whatever it might be. We explain that if they simply do the best they can, though it seems to be a minimum, they will be doing a lot. Religiously, Christ established the following:

• Matthew 22:37 – And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

In essence, Christ has said, “Do the best you can do” in regard to the path he has given us. Though sometimes we give a minimum, it is everything. That is it quite a paradox. The center of understanding the minimum and realizing it is not always an absolute revolves around heart, soul, and mind. The minimum we can serve Christ with is everything.

• Galatians 2:20 – I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

What if all you can do is give the minimum? Make sure it is the maximum.