Layaway vs. credit

Back when I was a kid there was a program that most department stores offered called lay a way. If you are under 25 years of age you may not know how it works. These stores would set the desired item aside and allow you to purchase the item by making partial payments. When you made the final payment the item was all yours.  The good news was “no interest “, just pay the asking price. Then, in the 1970’s this wonderful idea that allowed you take possession of the item first and make payments over time was becoming all the rage. Yes, the credit card (although the first all purpose credit card est. in 1966) I didn’t see credit cards in use very much until the mid 1970’s. Humans do not enjoy delayed gratification. We seem to subscribe to the “gotta have it now” concept, and are willing to pay a very hefty price for the luxury.  In fact, there are 609 million credit cards in the US with an aver debt of $ 14,750.00 per family, paying 13.67% interest.  

I was thinking that many people tend to look at God in one of these two ways:

 Lay a way- I can’t have God now, because I need to make the payments first. I am trying to become a better person and one day I’ll have paid in enough good deeds to buy my way to God.

                                                                                                OR

Credit- I have received Christ and now I need to work like crazy to keep in His good graces. It’s a tough battle because the heavenly interest is pretty steep. I can barely make the payments. Sometimes it seems like I’ve made payments for years but I haven’t even made a dent in the principle.

So the question is which view is correct?

Neither….

I quote the words of Led Zepplin “There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold and she’s buying the stairway to heaven. “ As much as I enjoy Robert Plant …. The lady is not going to buy her way into heaven, not even Bill Gates with all his riches could pay the price. There is not enough money or good deeds. I will agree that nothing is free; there is a huge price to pay for you to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The thing is ….. It’s already been paid!     Jesus paid it all!     He is the only one who could.

Neither Lay a way nor credit. The way to be united with Christ is to accept the FREE GIFT of salvation. As soon as we attempt to pay for it ourselves, we begin to nullify what Jesus did, as if to say “Christ didn’t do enough”.

Romans 6:23 “The wages of sin is death, but the FREE GIFT of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our lord”

Eph 2:8-9 “It is by Grace we are saved through faith, and that not of ourselves. It is the Gift of God: not of works lest any man should boast”

authen family 5/1/11