Heart Tracks - The Price

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it." John 3:16-17....."God's favorite word is 'Come!' " Robert L. Sterner

Any realtor, retailer, or person selling goods of any kind, will tell you that what they're selling is worth whatever the buyer is willing to pay. It doesn't matter what someone else sees as the value. It only matters what the one who wants the object sees as its worth. It's the central law of buying and selling. Scripture tells us that all who come to Christ have been "bought with a price." and that the price is the very life and blood of the Son of God. This world may tell you that you're worthless. People in your life may have told you, times without number, that you are worthless. Jesus Christ came into this world of darkness, death, and sin, and says to you, "So precious are you to the heart of My Father that He offered Me up for you in order that you might have life in Me."

We are born, all of us, with a death sentence upon us. We are born shackled by our sin nature, and we have no power in ourselves to free ourselves from that sentence. Sin demands the sacrifice of One who is perfect, sinless. None of us can meet that demand, and as a result, the human race is hopelessly lost. We desperately needed a Redeemer, and the heart of the Father responded to that need by sending His only Son, Jesus Christ to be that sacrifice. He came to a world that most often seems not worth saving, to a human race that also appears so often to be the same. The One who is precious beyond words, came to we who have been labeled by the enemy of our souls as worthless, and took our sin, and its penalty upon Himself. Sin and its penalty had dominion, but He bought us at the price of His life, by His blood shed for us on the cross. The One who is priceless, gave Himself up for us, for you and me. Such was our worth, your worth, in His eyes and heart.

Now, if you've been exposed to the truth of His Word and Life, you know all this as factual. You've heard it many times before, especially at Easter. So here's a question for you, and for me; why, in our thoughts about ourselves, do we continue to see ourselves as worthless? How has the enemy been so successful in convincing us that we have no real value, that this God who so freely gave us His Son, still demands that we prove ourselves and our worth to Him, and on a daily basis? Why are we always telling ourselves how stupid we are, how not worth loving, how rejected? We are born with a desperate need to be loved, and spend our lives pursuing that, yet rarely, if ever finding its fulfillment. In the marketplace of the world, we are consistently told we're of no value. In the economy of the Kingdom, the Father tells us we have a value to Him that words can never express. And He didn't give us only His Words, He gave us His Son. That was the price He was willing to pay....for you, and for me.

Scripture tells of the one who was willing to sell and give away all that he had in order that he might lay hold of the "pearl of great price." No matter what others have said about you, no matter how deeply the world has planted the idea of your own worthlessness into your heart and spirit, you are the pearl of great price to Him. He was willing, is willing, to give all in order that you might be His. He already has. On the cross. And that is where He invites you to come. To the cross, His cross, and find there, forgiveness, healing, freedom, redemption. At the cross, sin, our sin, your sin, is dealt with. It's power is broken. It's chains struck off. At the cross, He speaks His favorite word to you, "Come." It is not an invitation to come to church, or a Bible study, but to Him, at His cross. He came down to us that He might raise us up to Himself. We are the pearl of great price, and He has given all to have us. All we, you need do is come....to the cross. Will you?

Blessings,
Pastor O