I was busy installing a windshield when the phone rang. I laid down my tools and picked up the phone. “Last night the window was broken out of 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,” he added. I told him that it wasn’t necessary to pay for it before the job was done.
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.
The Lincoln glass was delivered and at 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. 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 it had already been 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 piece of glass and then never pick it up.
I am also puzzled that more people don’t accept God’s grace. It has already been paid for. The Bible is clear that God’s grace is a gift. Why don’t more people accept the gift? If you were to ask one hundred random people, “how do you get to heaven?” you would hear a lot of different answers. You would hear 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.” All of these ideas are based on our abilities and actions. They are not based on the idea of a gift. People that don’t feel the need of the gift see no need to accept God’s grace. Many religious people fall into this way of thinking. They feel 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. Jesus has paid it all.
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 our sin to be forgiven. And when we place our trust in him, our debt for sin 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.
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