Salvation

Salvation

Yet they cannot redeem themselves from death by paying a ransom to God. Redemption does not come so easily, for no one can ever pay enough to live forever and never see the grave. Those who are wise must finally die, just like the foolish and senseless, leaving all their wealth behind.

Psalm 49:7-10

When I drove several hours to my son’s state band competition today, I was thankful for expressways that have divided traffic going opposite directions. Many accidents have been avoided because of separation from oncoming cars. I realize that we spend our lives trying to avoid many things; we design airbags to help prevent serious injuries in car crashes, and we invent anesthesia to avoid pain. But none of our efforts can ever help us avoid eventual death. We can postpone it perhaps, but never avoid it.

We can’t purchase an escape from death with either time or money, and we can’t purchase eternal life either. Each person who lives on this earth has a penalty to pay for sin, but it can’t be worked off with good deeds or paid off with money. God’s Word tells us that human souls are far too precious to be ransomed by earthly wealth.

So if time or money can’t rescue us, what can? Christ’s blood through faith! Romans 3:25 (TLB) teaches, “For God sent Christ Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to end all God’s anger against us. He used Christ’s blood and our faith as the means of saving us from his wrath.” It’s great to design airbags and invent painkillers, which improve the quality of our short years on earth. But we would do well to spend more time thinking about ways to improve the quality of people’s forever lives—time spent with Jesus that doesn’t end.

Father,

Thank you that you place such great value on our souls. And thank you for offering salvation through faith in Christ’s blood. Amen.