For my recent academic pursuits, I made the choice to use student loans to pay for a large part of my tuition. The thing about loans is that they have to be repaid. They are debt. As long as I have debt, I am in a position of owing someone else.

Now you might be thinking that was a really long explanation for a concept many of us are familiar with in everyday life. But here’s the thing, this month, God enabled me to pay off one such debt. I was excited to make that final payment, but the full weight of it didn’t hit me until a couple days later when I received a confirmation email after the payment had posted to my account.

Before I even opened the email, I noticed the subject line in bold letters announcing “PAID IN FULL.” Wow! I was excited to see this official declaration that I no longer owed anyone. This debt was done. Then it hit me, if I was this excited over a few thousand dollars, how excited should I be over the debt I could not pay. The one Jesus paid for me. The one He canceled on my behalf so I no longer had to owe anybody for my life. Double Wow!

My life bears the watermark of Christ – PAID IN FULL – stamped in bold letters across my heart and my mind. The email in my inbox confirms it; my debt is gone.