No Money Down

Some people suppose that the offer of salvation is similar to other big-ticket items. Beds, refrigerators, and automobiles cost more than most people can afford, so stores often offer these products for no money down. Customers can enjoy these products for a year or so before beginning the dreaded monthly payments that slowly but surely drain their bank account. Likewise salvation costs nothing up front, but those who receive Jesus as Savior should eventually pay the price of making Him their Lord. But this is backwards, for receiving salvation is the opposite of purchasing a car or couch. Unlike them, salvation is affordable to all. It does not lie beyond anyone's price range (for Jesus has paid our debt to God), but it does demand that we put all our money down, and everything else that we are and have (Matthew 19:21). Jesus explained that all who want to follow Him must "turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow Me," for only those who lose their lives for His sake will save their lives (16:24-25). This makes sense, for it's hard to argue that Jesus is our Savior if He's not also our Lord. How can we claim that He has rescued us from sin if we remain enslaved to it? Augustine explained the cost of salvation this way: "Give yourself, and you've got it. What are you worrying about? Why are you in such a sweat? You aren't going to have to go looking for yourself, are you, or to go and buy yourself? Look, it's you, who you are, what you are; give yourself for that thing, and you've got it." The gospel is free, but it doesn't come cheap. It cost Jesus His life, and if we wish to receive His great salvation, it will cost ours too. , Mike Wittmer