8-22-2015

 Good Morning All!!

         Colossians 2:14: “He did this by erasing the charges that were brought against us by the written laws God had established. He took the charges away by nailing them to the cross.”

     It is probably one of the least enjoyable tasks in the average household.  It can be the source of stress, arguments, tears and regrets.  It is the time of the month when you sit down and pay the bills.  It always starts out on a rather positive note.  “If my grandfather saw how much money I make, he would be amazed.”  “I bet I make as much in a month as he did in six months.”  We start off smiling then the smile slowly settles until our lips are pursed and our brow is furrowed and we remember that country song “Too much month at the end of the money.”

   The mortgage is due; I thought our interest rate went down a couple of years ago.  The electric bill is due; holy cow those are big numbers.  The credit card bill is due; it has to be hacked.  Then there are those unplanned bills that spring up at you like a rattlesnake in the desert.  I really don’t know what a “strut” does but it is expensive and the car shop guy said I needed them.  Who is spending all the money?  Well, if I give up the coffee on the way home and take a sandwich for lunch that will help a little.  What happened to thinking about your grandfather?   He would probably shake his head.  As long as nothing really big happens, you can hold on until next month.

    Wouldn’t it be nice if one time, just one time, you would open the bill and read “paid in full?”  If you could have two bills paid off, wow, we could go out for supper and if you could open all your bills and they said paid in full; well pick me up off the floor and let’s dance the happy dance!  Then suppose you look and see that the bills were all paid by your neighbor; how would you respond?

   Jesus paid our bill; the bill that was due for our sins.  The charges against us are erased from our account because Jesus took those bills and nailed them to the cross and that is where they remain.  We are no longer indebted to the cost of our sin; we are freed.  We are free to live our life from this point forward, but how?  Hopefully, we see that our life should show our thanks to the one who paid the bill.  This is really how we should view our life and our actions; they say “thank you” to Jesus for what he has done, paid every bill we owe.  Our actions are not payment; there is nothing to pay for.  Our actions are thank you to the one who frees us from our debts.

Father of all mercy, we give you thanks for freeing us from our debt.  Lead me by your Spirit to always show my thanks to you.  Guide me to see the many ways that you place in my journey to say thank you.  Lead me to have compassion on those who are in need.  Lead me to those who need to hear your loving Word.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret