The following
story appears to be an “urban legend,” but is fun to read
nevertheless:
In March 1992, a
man living near
unused credit card stating that he owed $0.00.
He ignored it and threw it away.
In April he received another and threw that one away, too.
The following
month the credit card company sent him a very nasty note stating they were
going to cancel his card if he didn’t send them $0.00 by return of post. He called them, talked to them, they said it
was a computer error and told him they’d take care of it.
The following
month he decided that it was about time that he tried out the troublesome
credit card figuring that if there were purchases on his account it would put
an end to his ridiculous predicament.
However, in the first store that he produced his credit card in payment
for his purchases he found that his card had been canceled. He called the
credit card company who apologized for the computer error once again and said
that they would take care of it.
The next day he
got a bill for $0.00 stating that payment was now overdue. Assuming that having
spoken to the credit card company only the previous day and that the latest
bill was yet another mistake, he ignored it, trusting that the company would be
as good as their word and sort the problem out.
The next month
he got a bill for $0.00 stating that he had 10 days to pay his account or the
company would have to take steps to recover the debt.
Finally giving
in, he thought he would play the company at their own game and mailed them a
check for $0.00. The computer duly
processed his account and returned a statement to the effect that he now owed
the credit card company nothing at all.
A week later,
the man’s bank called him asking him what he was doing writing a check for
$0.00. After a lengthy explanation, the
bank replied that the $0.00 check had caused their check processing software to
fail. The bank could not now process ANY
checks from ANY of their customers that day because the check for $0.00 was
causing the computer to crash.
The following
month the man received a letter from the credit card company claiming that his
check had bounced and that he now owed them $0.00 and unless he sent a check by
return of post they would be taking steps to recover the debt.
The man, who had
been considering buying his wife a computer for her birthday, bought her a
typewriter instead.
As I read that
story, I couldn’t help but think of the debt that we owe because of our
sin. “The wages of sin is
death” (Rom. 6:23). But, for those
who are in Christ, that debt has been canceled — we owe nothing. “There
is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not
walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” (Rom. 8:1)
Despite that
fact, though, Satan continues to make us feel that we still owe something (he’s
not called “the accuser” for nothing!). But listen to these words of comfort:
“Then I
heard a loud voice saying in heaven, ‘Now salvation, and strength, and the
kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of
our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.’ And they overcame him by the blood of the
Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to
the death.” (Rev. 12:10-11)
Praise be to the
Lamb whose blood makes it possible for us to have a debt of $0.00!
Have a great
day!
Alan Smith
