Cancel the Debt

I may be the only one who needs this and that's ok but I was in Deuteronomy 15 this morning and although this is one of those places in scripture we can tend to think isn't applicable, I saw it a bit differently this morn. I kept reading it over and over. It's a chapter on canceling debts. It's actually entitled in my bible as The Year for Canceling Debts. I began to think that just maybe in the year 2015 I might should implement this 15th chapter. Not in the strictest sense of the scripture because no one owes me anything. However I certainly need to be more generous towards the poor. I need to offer help to the needy. But I began to see it as another type of debt. I've been guilty before of holding things over people that I need to cancel. I've felt at times like there were a few people who "owed" me an apology for things said or done. I've felt at times that there were a few people who "owed" me an explanation. Some "owed" me a reason behind the hurt or offense. I need to cancel those debts. No, they haven't been paid and probably never will be. But I need to cancel them. I need to have no wicked thoughts and show no ill will. I need to give grace generously. I need to offer forgiveness without a grudging heart. This chapter says 5 times that "the Lord your God will bless you". I want that more than any debt paid off by people I feel "owe" me. I've been on the other end as well. People have kept me "on the hook" for things I've said or done whether intentionally or unintentionally. It's a terrible feeling! You become the reason for everything bad in their life and it's awful. You want to scream "please just take me off the hook"! They misread your intentions and take everything you say as a direct hit even when they were the furthest thing from your mind. I've been on both sides. It's freeing to cancel a debt and its freeing when someone else declares you debt free and takes you off the hook. Therefore, what if we all agreed to let 2015 be the year we all implement chapter 15 of Deuteronomy and CANCEL THE DEBT! Take others OFF THE HOOK! FORGIVE! LET IT GO! That doesn't mean God won't deal with the wrong. It doesn't mean it makes things right but it will make us alright. God has promised to bless and isn't that what we want more than anything else?! Let's want that to be what we want. Living debt free in 2015 and gracing others even when we could label them "in debt" to us is a better way to live and it's where we find the blessings God has promised.