APRIL 30, 2013
Fantastic
Offers
Read: 1 Peter 1:3-9
[God’s] abundant mercy
has begotten us again to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus. —1 Peter 1:3
I
am amazed at the unbelievable offers that flood my e-mail box every day.
Recently, I added up the offers of free money that came to me in a week, and
my
“take” totaled $26 million. But each of those offers was a fraud. Every
one
—from a $1 million prize to a $7 million offer—was nothing but a lie sent by
unscrupulous people to squeeze money from me.
We’re
all vulnerable to fantastic offers—to scams that in reality pay off with
nothing but trouble. We are offered false hope that ends in dashed dreams.
There
is one offer, however, that is genuine, though fantastic beyond belief.
It’s
the offer God makes to us—salvation through faith in Jesus’ finished work
on
the cross: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts
16:31).
It is an offer that cost Him greatly—and we get the benefits. The book
of
Romans tells us, “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised
to
life for our justification” (4:25niv).
By
saying yes to salvation, we can have hope (Titus 1:2), peace (Rom. 5:1),
forgiveness (Eph. 1:7), incomparable riches (2:7), and redemption (4:30).
This
is the real deal. Jesus’ death and resurrection guarantees it.
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
—John Wesley. © 1951 Singspiration
Our salvation was infinitely costly to God, but it is absolutely
free to us.
Source:
Our Daily Bread 2012
