Recently our son got a gift card to a gaming store. He took the gift card and picked out some items. His gift card was not enough to pay for all of the things he had picked out, so we paid the difference for him. Our son walked out of the store with the items he wanted. He was given the right to receive those items because the difference of what he owed and couldn’t pay was provided for him.
What would have happened if either of the following scenarios had taken place:
- he wouldn’t let us pay and he left with the items
- we didn’t offer to pay and he left with the items
The items would not have been his, he would not have the right to have the items outside of the store. The items would be considered stolen and he would be “paying” for them with his reputation for the rest of his life.
What happened when we paid the difference in the purchase price of our son’s items helps us to understand the great Salvation of God. We want to buy eternal life. To live, and move, and have our being is what we desire to do forever. The problem is we don’t measure up. We don’t have enough. We fall short of the price that is required for us to live forever.
The good news is that Jesus paid the difference for us. Jesus covered the debt that we couldn’t pay. All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. No one measures up to God’s standard to live forever. The sin of our life, everything in us that kills, steals, and destroys causes corruption and prevents us from living forever. No amount of health in our bodies or life could pay for all the things that corrupt us. The accurate judgment we receive is death as the outcome for our sin. The lack of us measuring up is sin. It is sin that has the result of death.
God sent Jesus into the world to make up the difference for all the ways we don’t measure up. Jesus took the punishment of death for us. Our sin deserved death, and Jesus took that death on our behalf so that we could walk with eternal life.
God did not send Jesus into the world to condemn the world. The people of the world were already condemned. It was already determined no one measured up. Instead, God sent Jesus into the world to enable everyone who believes on Him to “measure up” to the glory of God.
The reputation of God is what pays the difference we owe. The record of our debt was placed on Jesus and paid for by His being nailed to the cross. Since Jesus paid the debt I owed, it canceled my sin debt. Therefore, I have eternal life through Christ Jesus.
I am able to have eternal life, to measure up. It didn’t come by my reputation. Instead, it came from the reputation of God in Christ Jesus. When I am “in Christ”, letting the death of Christ Jesus on the cross on my behalf pay for all the debt I owed and couldn’t pay; then, I walk with the eternal life He purchased on my behalf.
The eternal life is guaranteed because God raised Jesus on the third day never to die again. It is His eternal life put on my account, paying my debt, that enables me to have eternal life.
Do you want eternal life? Do you measure up? Who’s paying the difference for you?
At the end of time, will you be paying for eternal life with your reputation or will you have eternal life by using the reputation of God in Christ Jesus? The gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. No one measures up to eternal life except those who are in Christ Jesus. We will not behold the glory of God nor reflect His glory unless Christ Jesus pays the difference for us. No one measures up without His payment! Choose today to let Jesus Christ make up the difference for you. Read more here.
Scripture References: John 1:12; John 3:16-21; John 10:10; Acts 16:31; Romans 3:10-12; Romans 6:23; Romans 10:13; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Colossians 2:13-14
Written By: Anne Gurley
