And the highest bidder is....

Henry David Thoreau once said, "The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it." What is the price you'd pay for something you really, really wanted? Would it be only "up to" a certain amount, or would you keep extending yourself time and time again until you got what it was you were after in the first place? I wonder what would have happened to us if God would have taken the tact of just paying "up to" this point and then not being willing to go any further - would any of us really have understood or embraced grace? Likely not!

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

Romans 5:6-8 NLT

The life of Christ given on our behalf declares just how much God wants each of us - enough to give the life of the one closest to his heart! As our passage points out, it wasn't because we were some sparkling jewel on the shelf, but rather we were tarnished brass hidden from view most of the time! We may not have known it at the time, but there was actually a "bidding war" going on over us! You see, God said he'd pay the price, we said we'd figure out a way to make ourselves worth more, and Satan was none too happy to let God's bid win out!

Thoreau also said, "What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us." If we are to fully understand the price God was willing to pay on our behalf, we need only consider what life without Christ at the center is really like. For what lives within us is what matters. If Christ was willing to become the price of our life transformation, then why is it we continually tell ourselves and others that we are not worthy of the price he paid? The one who pays the price is the one most able to determine if the price paid was "worth it", isn't that true?

The price paid was exorbitant in our eyes - for most of would seldom give our lives for the ones we love and who love us back, let alone give our lives for anyone who is too caught up in their own lives to even realize how much they are loved and desired. The sacrifice of Christ isn't understood in the mind - it is understood in the heart and the spirit. Our lives weren't much to look upon apart from him - but in his eyes, they were diamonds in the rough! But...think about it for a moment - there WAS a bidding war for us! Some would deny it, but even WE got in on the challenge of seeing what "price" would be declared to be "good enough" to purchase our lives.

Thank God our lives didn't go to the loudest bidder, for I think things may have ended up much worse for us if we actually won the bid, or worse yet, Satan! The price paid was indeed higher than anyone could imagine, but it was the price declared from the beginning to be what sin demanded - and the price prepared was the price paid! Just sayin!

Invitation to be possessed

¹⁹ Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

(I Corinthians 6:19-20)

This is the beginning of the season of the year when everyone succumbs to the buying and selling of goods in some manner.  The day after Thanksgiving is traditionally called "Black Friday" - the beginning of the bargains of that kick off the season of Christmas shopping.  Thousands will wake earlier than usual, down a quick breakfast, then charge head-long into the hoards of holiday shoppers just looking for the next great "buy".  There is one "buy" that has already been accomplished for us - one that we cannot find or purchase on our own - it is our salvation.

Our passage today reminds us that we are bought at a price - the price of the cross.  God has provided the greatest gift of all - not so that we can squander it anyway we please - but so that we can honor him with the transformation of our lives.  We are no longer our own to do with as we please - we serve a higher purpose after receiving this gift of Christ - the purpose of serving a holy God.

We are purchased at a price that we could never afford to pay.  When something is purchased it is no long the property of the one who formerly owned that thing.  When we buy that shirt from the storekeeper, it becomes ours to wear and place on the display of our bodies instead of the store's manikin.  When the exchange of the "property" takes place, there is a surrendering of the rights of ownership of that "property".  

That which is purchased has had a price paid - there has been a sacrifice of payment that paid the exact price that was owed for that which is purchased.  That is what Christ's sacrifice did for us - paid the exact price owed for our sin - redeeming us from the coldness of being "manikin dwellers".  

We are presented as a gift to another - Jesus.  You and I are God's special love-gift to his dear Son, Jesus.  Purchased specifically for him - to become that which will bring him honor and praise.  We are offered to him, no longer slaves to our sin, that we might fellowship with him in the depth of the communion of intimate friends.  The purchase of our lives had a purpose - bringing honor to God.

That which is purchased becomes the possession of the one who pays the purchase price - to do with as he pleases.  The one who possesses the thing that is purchased has the enjoyment of that item.  We are purchased with a price far greater than we could pay so that we could be the enjoyment of our Savior.  He savors our presence as much as we savor his.  There is a change in us that allows us to submit to the one who is now owner of our lives.  We call this obedience - not just because we have been purchased - but we have been brought into the full possession of the Son.  

It is also true that what is owned requires special attention - in order to keep what is possessed in "tip-top" condition.  We would be silly to buy something of great value and then leave it out in the elements, rotting in the sun, rain, and winds of the storms that come.  We don't place a thing of great value in harm's way - we cherish it, give it a place of honor, and direct our attention to it on a regular basis.  So it is with Christ's treatment of his greatest gifts - us. He places us right in the center of his presence, so that we might be given the direct attention we so desperately need.  In turn, we bring him honor.  He enjoys (delights) in us and we experience the enjoyment of his great delight.

Today, you are invited to be purchased - to be possessed by another.  In that possession comes an exchange of position - being brought into the very presence of a holy God.  In that exchange of position comes the privilege of being the object of his affection - his undivided attention.  Are you ready?