What is the greatest thing you want to obtain?  Is it worldwide fame and recognition?  Is it being a member of the “billionaire” club?  What is the highest achievement you want to reach?

Most people think that if they obtain enough money, not only will all their problems disappear, they will gain all the fame and recognition they desire.  Many people work hard to increase their finances, hoping to someday arrive at a very comfortable destination.  Some make it; others don’t.

I am a believer in being all you can be. I believe in developing your skills and abilities in order to reach your personal potential.  I also believe in finding ways to increase your finances.  I do not find it greedy to look for and implement ways to improve any area of life.

But what is the biggest prize you or I could ever obtain?  If money can’t buy happiness, being happy and fulfilled would be life’s greatest achievement.  But we could go a step further and decide that being the greatest benefactor, sharing millions or billions with those less fortunate would be a pinnacle.

Giving of your abundance to help others is a wonderful thing to do.  True givers continue to give more as they increase.  Some of the wealthiest people in the world are some of the biggest givers.

But We Know What Happens

While life expectancy has recently edged up a few years, how many people do you know who are 120 years old?  None, I am sure.  I think the oldest person living today, that they know of, is around 114, but none of us will reach 120.

No matter how much wealth you amass, no matter how much you give away, no matter how happy and fulfilled your life is, all of us someday will die. So, what price would you be willing to pay in order to live forever?

If the price tag were one million dollars in gold, wouldn’t you work your entire life to obtain it?  Of course, we all would, because once we obtained it, then we would live forever. Wouldn’t that be the biggest prize of all?

Think how much money is spent every year just to look a little younger.  It is a billion dollar per year industry.  All that money is spent to sort of prolong the inevitable just a little bit longer.

Few people believe that we really lived as long as it says they lived in the early portion of the Bible.  But even those people, who lived around eight hundred and nine hundred years, still died. When you consider living far, far beyond nine hundred years, can we really even attempt to put a price tag on eternal life?

What If Eternal Life Is A Gift?

What if the Bible is true and eternal life is a gift from God?  What if our loving God designed a plan whereby anyone could obtain eternal life?  What if the price has already been paid and the gift is now free?

The Bible is true, but, sadly, so many times religious thinking steps in and muddies the waters. “Yes, it’s a gift from God, but, you have to earn it.  There are things you must do to deserve it before you can obtain it.”

Countless, sincere people try to do the best they can, hoping they will “make it.”  They try to do enough “good things” so that they will earn eternal life.  What they “must do” depends upon which school of religious thinking gives out the regimen.

Yet, the Bible is very clear that salvation is a gift and eternal life is a gift.  Wages are earned; a gift is not earned.  When your boss pays you, do you thank him for the generous gift?

The Price Has Been Paid

What would you do if someone handed you the keys to a new car?  What if they said, “Here are the keys to your new car; it is bought and paid for.”  Would you then begin making monthly payments for the car?  Of course not! But, that’s exactly what many Christians are trying to do to obtain the gift of eternal life.

After the fall in the Garden of Eden, and the cataclysmic disaster brought upon mankind, God devised a plan to redeem the human race.  In order to complete redemption satisfying any and all claims of justice, it would require the sacrifice of a perfect human being.

The motivation for God rescuing us was love.  His love for humanity, all people, was so great that He willingly gave His only begotten Son.  He created seed inside Mary, and she gave birth to her son, who was literally, the Son of God.

Jesus Christ lived a perfect life.  He went about doing good; healing all those oppressed by the devil, allowing his Father, God Almighty, to work with him.  He taught people about God, and introduced the concept of God being our Father.

He Did It For Us

When the time came, Jesus willingly suffered and endured, and willingly laid down his life for you and for me.  His death was payment in full for all the sins of the world, and opened the door for any and all who believe in him to receive everlasting life.  The Bible declares his one sacrifice, once and for all, the full and complete payment.

God raised Jesus from the dead.  Now, those who choose to believe that Jesus is the savior and the redeemer, lord of all men, raised from the dead by God, the Bible declares are saved.  Salvation is a gift.  Eternal life is a gift.

We don’t try to do enough “good works” to obtain salvation and eternal life.  We already have them.  And the more we recognize what has been freely given to us and who God has made us to be, out of gratitude, not duty, we live our lives for Him.

The price paid for the biggest prize was the highest price ever paid, the life of a perfect man, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  The Bible says that we are bought and paid for.  If God was willing to pay such a high price for you and for me, then what are we now worth to Him?

Mike Verdicchio
2012

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