I was busy installing a windshield when the phone rang. I laid down my tools and picked up the phone. “Last night, I broke the window in my Lincoln,” said the voice on the other end. “I need to get it replaced. How much will it cost?” “Let me get into the office where I can look it up,” I answered. After getting all the information and pricing the glass, I told him, “that is an expensive piece of glass. It will cost 550.00 for the glass and installation. I can have the glass here on Tuesday.” “Well, I have to have it,” he answered. “Go ahead and order it. Do you want me to come by and pay for it before you place the order?” I told him that it wasn’t necessary to pay for it before I finish the job.
About an hour later, the customer with the
Lincoln drove up to my shop. “I want to pay you for the glass,” he said. I told
him that it wasn’t necessary, but he insisted. “Thank you,” I said. “That is
very thoughtful of you.” He wrote me out a check handed it to me, and then
drove away.
My supplier delivered the Lincoln glass to
my shop on Tuesday morning. But the customer didn’t show up to get it
installed. It was a busy day, and I didn’t have time to think about it until
late that afternoon. I called the customer but only got his voice mail. I left
a message telling him that the glass was in and asked him to give me a call to
reschedule. I didn’t hear from him for the rest of the week. I thought that was
unusual, but I didn’t worry about it because he had prepaid for the glass.
A week went by before I heard from the
customer. Finally, he called, and we made an appointment to install the glass.
I was glad to have the job completed. I was surprised that he waited so long to
have the work done, especially since he had already paid.
In my warehouse, there are quite a few
pieces of glass that customers have special ordered but never came to get the
work done. It is a frustrating part of the business. But I also have several
pieces of glass that customers paid for but have never picked up. I am puzzled
that someone would pay for a glass and then never pick it up.
I am also puzzled that more people don’t
accept God’s grace since the price is already paid. The Bible is clear that
God’s grace is a gift. Why don’t more people take advantage of the gift? If you
were to ask one hundred random people, “how do you get to heaven?” you would
hear many different answers. Things like “try to be good and do your best,” or
“work hard at being a good moral person,” or “do more good things in life than
you do bad things.” The basis for each of these ideas is reliance on our
abilities and actions. These ideas are not based on the idea that heaven is a gift.
People who don’t feel the need for the gift see no need to accept God’s grace.
Many religious people fall into this way of thinking. They think that they can
do it themselves and that they don’t need some gift.
In 1 Corinthians 6:20 (NCV) Paul tells us,
“you were bought by God for a price. So honor God with your bodies.” God paid
the price of his Son to purchase your salvation. “He suffered the things we
should have suffered. He took on himself the pain that should have been ours.
But we thought God was punishing him. We thought God was wounding him and
making him suffer. But the servant was pierced because we had sinned. He was
crushed because we had done what was evil. He was punished to make us whole
again. His wounds have healed us.” Isaiah 53:4,5 (NIRV)
Jesus suffered for you. He took on himself
the pain that should have been yours. Your sins were the ones that pierced him.
He paid the price to heal you and make you whole. Jesus died for you. The stain
of sin that marred your life has now been washed white as snow. He has paid
your debts—all of them.
John 19:28-30 (NCV) tells the story of the
last moments of Jesus’ life on the cross. “After this, Jesus knew that
everything had been done. So that the Scripture would come true, he said, ‘I am
thirsty.’ There was a jar full of vinegar there, so the soldiers soaked a
sponge in it, put the sponge on a branch of a hyssop plant, and lifted it to
Jesus’ mouth. When Jesus tasted the vinegar, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he
bowed his head and died.”
Gentle Reader, Jesus said, “It is
finished” on the cross. He paid in full all the costs required for the
forgiveness of our sin. And when we place our trust in him, our sin debt is
forever wiped off the books! We all need the gift of grace. We all need to have
the penalty paid for our sins. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God
is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23 (NKJV) We need the gift
of God, eternal life. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this
is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”
Ephesians 2:8 (NRSV) Don’t be too proud to accept the prepaid gift of
grace.
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