Stimulus Package

Hopeless?

How much is 789 billion dollars? Our government just spent that much on a stimulus package intended to energize our economy. The number is mind boggling. For perspective consider that one billion seconds ago Jesus was walking the earth on His way to Calvary. If dollars were seconds, our national stimulus package would amount to enough seconds to fill more than one million six hundred years! It is staggering how much our nation is spending on “recovery”, but that is nothing compared to how much our nation owes and how much we continue to spend digging a deeper hole. That brings me back to Jesus’ trip to the cross. Jesus was and is God’s stimulus package for mankind. The sin-debt each of us owes God makes our national debt look like pocket change.

Over a billion seconds ago Jesus told His disciples a parable explaining how much we owe God for our sins and what has to happen to pay off our debt. In Matthew 18:21-35 Jesus describes a man who owes his king ten thousand talents. The parable was intended to describe the futility of human effort. Ten thousand talents represents 200,000 years’ wages…an impossible debt to pay. Understanding this the king orders that the man and his family be sold into slavery. This won’t satisfy the debt, but it as close to justice as the king will get. The man falls on his knees and begs the king for mercy, promising the impossible…that he will pay every cent he owes. The king is no fool. He knows the man can never pay the debt, but his response shows us God’s heart. Matthew 18:27 reads, “And out of pity for him, the master released him and forgave his debt.”

The king never intended to be paid back. He forgave the debt and took the loss in order to show mercy. Similarly, each of us owes God a debt we couldn’t pay off if we worked at it for 3,000 lifetimes. Many try to pay down their debt to God, but it is futile effort. Go to church, give to the poor, fast for 40-days, light a candle, live an ascetic existence, work, work, work. If we use these things as penance then they are useless, like spitting into the ocean. Even if we were to live sinless lives from this day forward we could never erase the sins of yesterday or today. For every season of Lent, there is Mardi Gras. For every act of penance there is a handful of sinful thoughts and actions, which build our debt. The King is no fool. He knows we cannot pay what we owe. That is why Jesus came.

When we place our faith in Jesus His atoning sacrifice on the cross pays our debt in-full. We no longer work at gaining forgiveness because Christ purchased it for us. When God looks at us and sees Christ’s blood He forgives our debt and releases us from any sin obligation. Not only that, Christ’s blood also insures against future debt. He pays it all, past, present, and future. When we accept God’s stimulus package our former acts of fearful penance either become absolete or turn into joyful acts of worship. Perfect love casts our all fear and Jesus’ love allows those who trust in Him to have a relationship with God free from the fear of judgment.

Jesus stimulates joy, life and light were there had been only darkenss, fear and death.

Credit Challenge

How much do you owe?

Today’s Reading is Habakkuk 1-3 and Revelation 14

 

Death and taxes are inevitable, but something else is also unavoidable. It is a sure bet that all of the credit extended to us so that we might purchase what we cannot afford is going to come due.  This hard truth is more evident at this time of year than at any other. Our creditors are going to come calling at month’s end.

So it is with this world. It seems to unbelievers that there is no distinct temporal advantage to being a Christian. Many Christians also feel this way during times of trial. We still get sick, we still get hurt, and we still suffer tragedy. Habakkuk felt this way as he cried out to God: “…the law is ignored and justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.” Habakkuk 1:4

The world goes on its merry way and worldly people worship the means by which God blesses them (Habakkuk 2:18-19). People worship their self-sufficiency, diligence, prowess, and smarts without ever acknowledging that it is God who has given them those things and countless others. For instance, no business transaction would ever succeed if God did not grant favor between people. He does this for the godly and the ungodly (Matthew 5:45), so believers might well ask, “Why bother being a Christian? I could stay home and watch football on Sunday!”

God challenges believers to live faithful lives of joyful hope, especially when it looks like we’re losing to a sinful world. God tells us the world’s bill will come due in the appointed time. Wait for it! (Habakkuk 2:3) The world is living on borrowed grace and God will demand payment. The cup of the Lord will come around to every person (Habakkuk 2:16). Those who are in-Christ will drink forever from His grace because it was paid for by Christ’s blood. Those who refuse Jesus will drink from the cup of God’s wrath (Revelation 14:10) because they owe what they cannot pay. They are living on borrowed grace and borrowed time.

Don’t despair, Christian…we are debt-free! Let’s share Jesus with others so nobody ends up paying their own bill.