Acknowledge the Debt

Romans 8:12

Luke 11:9-13

The American Dream says we can be anything and do anything we want. It's great for encouraging individuals to persevere despite the various obstacles we encounter but it ignores the influence on our lives of decisions made by other people. For instance, a professional gymnast begins at a very young age, so no one reaches the Olympics now unless their parents decided to put them in gymnastics before they were old enough to show interest in it themselves. Those who are competing in the 2012 Olympics have a huge debt to their parents, coaches, sponsors, and others who put them in gymnastics/swim/etc. classes when they were very young and gave them the instructions they needed and the financing to continue competing, and opened up the possibility that's not available to millions of other children.  It's not a debt that's meant to be repaid but it would be appropriate to acknowledge--all of us--the interdependence that we have and the influence others' decisions have made on our lives, whether for good or for ill.

We have a much bigger debt to God. We can ignore it, pretend that all we do in this life is based on ourselves and our own choices. Look at how much He offers us though! Besides life and salvation He gives us the Holy Spirit, grace, peace, ability to do all we need to do. We ask Him for more and He grants our requests. Ignoring His gifts doesn't help us in the least: recognize them, acknowledge their existence and Who they come from, thank Him for each one. He doesn't ask us to repay them; the least we can do is thank Him for them and try to live according to His will rather than our own.