Day 23.

Many years ago King Charles v loaned a large sum of money from a merchant at Antwerp. As they often do, the loan became due, but the King was bankrupt, he was unable to pay his debt. The merchant gave a great banquet for the King. When all the guests were seated, before the food was brought in, the merchant had a platter placed before the King on the table. A fire was lit upon it, and then taking the note of debt out of his pocket, he held it in the flames until it was burned to ashes. The King was at peace with his debtor, his burden was lifted.

Most of us struggle with mortgages and other debts, but that is nothing compared with the debt we owe God because of our sin. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), the debt is due but we are unable to pay it. 2000 years ago God invited a rebellious and corrupt world to the foot of the cross and there, God held your sins and mine to the flames of His wrath until every last vestige of our debt was consumed. Paul tells us our debt was nailed to the cross. (Colossians 2:14)

What Christ has done is your surety of eternal life, but the gift of life is not yours until you accept it. You can even sit in church week after week and still not be a son or daughter of God. You can be a marvelous person but that is not enough. You can have all the knowledge of the Bible in the world, but that won’t save you! It’s the difference between getting in your car starting the motor and letting it Idle, or actually putting it in drive. Until you put your knowledge of God into action then your spiritual motor is just idling in the drive way and you are not going anywhere, especially to heaven. You have to engage your faith.

“This is life eternal that you might now the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 17:3. In 1974 I discovered the meaning of life! What is the meaning of life? Life is the place and time where we make our decisions for eternity, eternity has no clock, decisions belong to time and the time is now! Life is but a preparation for eternity. God offers us eternal life through the sacrifice of Jesus. It is a gift. This life is a battleground for the souls of men and women. This is a planet in rebellion in a universe that is at war and we have reached the curtain call for this planet. We have arrived at the last act in the drama of sin and rebellion.

The whole purpose of our lives is to choose whose side we will take in the cosmic conflict that has been raging down through the millenniums of this world’s history. God has offered us a way of escape from this orbiting cemetery by an exchange made at the cross. Through Jesus our sin becomes His and His perfection ours, which then gives us a perfect standing before God’s immutable law. With His Life He takes our place in death and then His life becomes ours forever, our penalty and price of salvation having been fully paid.

We have but one life during which to make that preparation for eternity and our last day might be sooner than our 50th or 60th birthday. This exchange offer is the only way of escape from this devil’s island of the universe.