Check Please
Originally scheduled for February 6
It is
a common experience. You go out to dinner and at the end of the
evening the waitress presents you with a check. Those of us were a
little older than most soon find a problem with this. The font size
shrinks as you get older. Before the computer aided cash register,
the check was handwritten and mostly illegible. This process is now
been computerized so that the bill is presented in a
font and size which is
almost readable.
But the check is an absolutely necessary item
for many people. If you are hosting a business dinner, your expense
report will need that receipt. It will be scrutinized in detail by
the travel department to make sure you have not purchased something
that is forbidden by policy. Even if this is just a personal meal,
you might ask the question, “how did I wind up spending so much
money?” The details are there in the check. Sometimes you can be
surprised but the price of a cup of coffee. Of course, it’s possible
that you have been overcharged for something, or they put something
on your bill that you didn’t order. Waitresses do make mistakes and
this is the chance to correct them. But it all depends on that
little piece of paper — the check.
In a way, communion can be viewed as being an
opportunity to read over the check presented to Jesus Christ for our
salvation. We can ask and answer the question, what did it cost?
·
It cost him his body. This is much
more the sacrifice the new might imagine it first, for Christ’s body
is the result of divine incarnation. Christ went from being God in
purest form to being God in the flesh. The culmination of the
process becoming human, growing up and ultimately walking among us
is his sacrifice on the cross.
·
Christ performed his miracles,
especially healings in a bodily fashion. His body represents to us
God coming to our rescue. All possible future miracles by Christ
himself were therefore cut off.
·
It cost him his blood. The Old
Testament law was very specific: the sacrifice had to bleed to
death. The Jew was taught that life is in the blood.
·
It was an innocent sacrifice of his
blood; thus making it incredibly more precious.
·
It was accompanied with a well
practiced ritual imposing shame upon the person. This wasn’t done
quietly in the back room, but in front of a mob.
Now you know the price that was paid; then
comes the question, how is this going to influence you? What should
you do about it?
·
Start by knowing your self. Go
through the process of self-examination and discover the sinner you
are. When you know the truth about yourself, you can start to do
something about it.
·
Know the Truth Himself. The primary
strategy for living the Christian life is the imitation of Christ.
The more you know about him, the closer you can approach his
example.
·
Then set your life’s course from the
sinner you are to the Savior he is. Follow his example.
