Christmas Sale – Save up to 60%...

Almost everywhere you turn this time of year, you see signs promoting great savings… 40% off sweaters -- 50% off belts -- 60% off socks – the savings are tremendous.

You don’t have to be a shopping fanatic to appreciate paying a sale price for something you thought you were going to have to pay full price for. And then there are those who won’t even make a purchase unless it’s on sale -- We just like getting a good deal. It makes us feel like we’re good shoppers, or that we out smarted the merchants.

The thing that’s been running through my mind lately is this…

God didn’t find a great Christmas sale that night in Bethlehem. Jesus coming in the form of a baby -- was just that -- Jesus “coming” here, which means he left there… God gave the most precious thing he had -- his son. Why? So we could be back in right relationship with him.

Jesus didn’t find great Christmas sales that night in Bethlehem either. In Order for Jesus to come to us as a precious baby he had to leave the presence of his father, that’s priceless. But Bethlehem was only the beginning of a journey that would eventually cost him the greatest price -- his life. Sin is not over priced (for the wages of sin is death, Romans 6:23). Sin has always been very costly --and cannot be discounted -- and it cost Jesus everything. First his place at home with the Father -- then it cost him his very life.

Even though Satan offered Jesus a short-cut -- a sale price -- I’m thankful that Jesus isn’t a bargain shopper. If he wasn’t willing to pay full price -- Bethlehem and the Cross -- I’d still be standing at the check-out counter embarrassed and broken because I have no means to pay for the baggage I’m carrying.