There is a cost associated with every event. Sometimes the ticket is zero; however, that does not mean it is free. Resources are spent or sacrificed to get to the venue’s door. Often a benefactor purchases a ticket and gifts it to another for admittance. Tickets are never free; someone somewhere pays the price. There is one big event rapidly coming in our near future, and the tickets are pre-paid. Never has there been, or ever will be, another occurrence or another chance to attend.
In order to get to a most important football game, diehard fans will take off work, rent a hotel room, buy expensive food on the road, and a lot of fuel investment for transportation. They may have a free ticket; however, the aforementioned items contribute to the cost of admission. Getting to the door or gate has an intrinsic price often not counted. Often this cost is very, very high.
God has provided means of admission to the coming great celebration, the union of God and man, but the cost to get to that celebration is a bit higher for some. The thing is, someone who has been completely wiped out by addiction, for them to enter in has paid more than a simple surrender to Christ’s offer of eternal life. Most addicts will tell you that they rejected the eternal ticket before getting hooked. Others who do not fall into addiction can pay dearly for the lack of wisdom and the lack of good choices. Accepting Christ has all sorts of benefits, wisdom being one. It is a shame so many get hurt and are ripped apart before they are willing to accept the ticket of admission to the Kingdom of God.
To be clear, tough things and challenging times happen to those who accept Christ, often a person will fall into the trap of thinking life would have been better if they had not asked Jesus into their lives. If this is you, let the record be set straight: God knew beforehand of trouble coming your way and made a special effort to connect so that hope would sustain you! Jesus is the Living Hope, and those who join with Him are newly born into a living hope (1 Peter 1:3 NIV). People have a physical and spiritual nature; the physical life is fleeting, but the spiritual life is eternal.
Businesses purchase football tickets and give them to their clients and customers with money earned from those very same clients and customers. Free games on the internet often cost the inconvenience of dealing with a host of advertisements and announcements. Free stuff is never free. Before COVID-19, Glory Magazine was published in hard copy and provided without charge to anyone who wanted one. The publisher’s vehicle to underwrite the publication depended upon God’s blessing on a personal business. Article contributions were precisely that, contributions. You see, a price cannot be put on the workings of God. Sacrifice is most pleasing to Him. The Father is well pleased with Jesus.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
John 3:16-17 KJV
It is also pleasing to God to be a table-turner. He turned the table on Pharaoh and caused the supreme Egyptian ruler to free the slaves. Then the earthly sovereign changed his mind, and he pursued the enslaved people into a dry gap in the Red Sea. The Bible says God caused the chariots, horses, armies, and reinforcements to enter the gap and then destroyed them (Exodus 14). The interesting thing is the Bible states that the Israelites crossed the Red Sea by faith (Hebrews 11:29). The table turns a couple of times in this narrative. It was God’s faith and faithfulness that got them across. It is doubtful that they would have left Egypt for good, never turning back if it were not for a great army chasing them. It was God’s faithfulness to close the door behind Israel, the Red Sea in this case, and obliterate the adversary in the same fell swoop. The most subtle switch-a-roo is Jesus paid the price in Glory and the presence of Heaven just to knock at a person’s door and ask to be invited in. God causes one to invite the invitation! If you invite Him in, you are invited to be in Him. There is a price; the human must surrender self-determination and trust God. Trusting somebody is costly.
Salvation is a gift; however, it comes with a high price. Aren’t you glad God paid the price by His incarnation, His desire to walk with us and experience human life at the expense of thirty-three years of Heavenly Glory? Aren’t you glad the cost of redemption and ransom was wrapped up in the life, the blood, and the body of Christ? God did not consider this price too high for your admission to Heaven, for eternal life, and life in the physical draped with living hope.
God is making it perfectly clear that a big event is about to happen in these days and times. He has provided admission and will not withhold admittance, provided one accepts the simple terms of admission. A caveat: do not invent new terms or add additional requirements for entrance. Wolves will try to extort you, coerce you, and tempt you to add to the price. That is futile; the price has been paid; a simple yes to the Lord’s invitation is all that is required.
Wisdom and grace and knowledge be unto you…even as all Glory, all Honor, and all Praises belong to Him. Amen
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