Kierkegaard paraphrases St. Paul: "Owe no man anything, what you have borrowed from him, what you have promised him, what he rightfully may demand of you in return. If possible, owe no man anything, no obligation, no service, no sympathy in joy or sorrow, no leniency in judging, no help in life, no advice in dangers, no sacrifice, even the most difficult - no, in all these things owe no man anything. But nevertheless be in debt which amid all this you have by no means desired to get out of and before God have by no means been able to pay off, the debt of love to one another....Usually we think the task is to get out of debt, whatever the debt is, a money debt, a debt of honor, a debt involving a promise - in short, whatever the debt is the task is always rather to get out of debt, the sooner the better. But here it should be the task, therefore an honor, to be in debt." (Our Duty to Be in the Debt of Love, Works of Love, p.185, 173)

There are some people we feel obligated to repay the debt of love we owe them. We may feel that we are in debt to our parents, because our parents have loved us first. They brought us into the world, they cared for us in infancy, they nurtured us, they fed and clothed us, and supported us through our childhood and youth as we went to school, and matured into adulthood. We have photos of ourselves in their arms, and by their sides as we grew up. We may have wanted to repay them for their love. But love cannot be repaid. To think of love in this way is to compare it with a bookkeeping relationship - a bill is submitted and it must be paid; if love was shown to us, it must be repaid with love. We cannot think of coming into debt by receiving love. Sometimes needy parents feel that their children owe them some consideration as they age. Sometimes we may feel that our children owe us. But St. Paul is not talking here of repaying the debt of love. There is no way we can repay, for loving others is a debt that can never be satisfied. It is in loving others that we come into a debt that can never be calculated.

Why are we obligated to love others? "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers....This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him...Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." (1 John 3:16; 4:9,11)

There is never a time when we can say that we have fulfilled our debt to love one another. If Christ is in us, then his love is lived through us. We can never stop loving somebody and say, 'I have loved enough.' Just as there is never a time when we can say that God has loved us enough and he does not have to love us anymore. God loves us to the end and beyond. As John records Jesus's attitude to his disciples at the Last Supper: "Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the last." (John 13:1) He loves us at our worst. He loves the world in its messiness, its rebellion, its rejection of him. He loves those who hate him. We can do no less. We have an infinite debt to love one another.

Does this mean that others have a blank check on our love? No. Does this mean that there are no limits to what others can draw on our love? No. We are called to love our neighbor 'as ourselves', not more than ourselves. To love others more than yourself would mean that you would be unwilling to refuse them anything they asked, even if you think it is harmful. To love others more than yourself would be to put them on a pedestal as someone to be idolized. That would be blasphemy. It is not love to indulge human weakness, or a demand, or blackmail that love will be withheld. Love for others does not mean fulfilling all their desires and needs. Our love for others is determined by what would constitute proper care and prevent possible harm. That may mean denying requests for money from an alcoholic, or drug addict, who would use the funds for their habit. It may mean confronting a spouse who is obsessing about an issue that is consuming him, or abusive in their behavior.

Love for others does not require us to beggar ourselves. We must care for ourselves, and maintain ourselves so that we can continue to love others. We can only love others if we have something to give. Love may require sacrifice, even self-denial, but it does not mean being reduced to having to depend upon others because we have exhausted our own resources in trying to help others.

We are able to love others because the Author of our life is also the Source of love in us. God has loved us first. God is the origin and source of the love in us which we are called to share with others. We can only love because we are loved. We cannot love from our own resources, on our own initiative. We are given love to give to others. Therefore we can pay this debt from God's bank of love. He gives us a line of credit on his love. We can draw on it all we want to give love to others.

Jesus said, "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." (John 13:34). Just as Jesus drew on the love of his Father to love others, so we can draw on the love of Jesus to love others. This is the difference between a disciple of Christ and a humanist ethical person. The believer in Christ does not rely on his own strength to love others. He calls upon the empowering of the Holy Spirit. "God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us." (Romans 5:5)

In what currency is the debt of love to be paid? It is the currency Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13:4,5 - "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs."

Practically speaking, it means that whomever we meet in this life, whomever we have occasion to relate to, we, as the followers of Christ, acknowledge that we have a debt to pay to them - to love them. We owe them, whomever they are, however casual the acquaintance, the obligation of our love. We can never say that we owe them nothing. This attitude characterized Jesus. It is why people were struck by him, were drawn to him. He treated people with love. It did not matter who they were: a servant, a prostitute, a nobleman, a foreigner, a rich man or a poor man. He treated them all the same - with love. We are expected to do no less.

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