We had a man come into my place
of work the other day and he immediately said, “I want to talk with the store
manager”. The store manager wasn't available for awhile, so he told me his
problem. It seems he had bought a lawnmower a little over a year ago and it
just blew the engine. He wanted the store to give him a new one or credit
towards a more expensive mower. In other words, to redeem the broken one and
make it new in some way...that was a problem…
When the manager arrived he
explained that the store policy is that we will refund or replace up to 60 days
on mowers, but the manufacturer has a one year warranty (which was also past).
I thought the manager did a good job of explaining all of this very patiently,
but it was a problem with no cheap answer to make it right. I mean, that which
regulates the transaction and responsibilities was clearly spelled out in the
papers they were given…so what do you do?
This is similar to the problem
each of us have today isn't it? We as humans are broken and unfixable by human
standards. Each of us has the problem of sin in our lives. It may not be a BIG
easily recognizable sin, but to God, sin is sin. If you don't obey his rules,
then you can't be fixed. God's word tells us that all of us sin and fall short
of God's Glory, (Romans 3:23). While we are told in 1John 1:7-10 that anyone who says they don't sin is
calling God a liar and that His Word is really not part of their lives. That is
a problem isn't it, because sin separates us form the source of life (eternally)
God himself. When we sin, we are responsible for the cost for the damage to our
lives, which is impossible for us to pay.
Fortunately, when God wrote his
rules, he wrote in a redemption clause, an escape clause if you will. It's
spelled out clearly in his rule book (the Bible) in more than one place. Places
like Mark 16:15-16 and Romans
6:1-10. We are told that the redemption we can experience is not dependent
upon our own ability, but upon the willingness of Christ to pay what was
necessary for us. What was required was a payment in blood; a payment of
sacrifice; a payment of suffering to fix what you broke and for which you were
responsible. He paid the debt he did not own, because he loves you that much!
In return he asks the you obey him and commit to living by His rules to the
best of your ability.
Now the man who came into our
store was helped with his problem. We actually gave him a loner mower until he
could check with the manufacturer. Redeemed or fixed no; we were just kind of
able to put a bandage on the sore spot in hopes he can get it fixed properly
some place else.
I see a lot of people who are
putting band aids on their lives, they cover up the sore spot, but something is
missing, something is hurting, something is lacking in their lives. It is the
healing that comes from God when we finally decide to follow the rules in His
Book the Bible. To embrace the need to sacrifice some things in our own lives,
to gain eternal life.
