DOING BUSINESS WITH GOD

Date: Mon Mar 12 12:45:37 2007

A lot of altar calls talk about doing business with God. However, I'm not sure many people actually know HOW to do business with God. A whole lot of people do not understand business period!

Sometimes there is disappointment in business deals because the expectations of the two parties differ so radically. The buyer wants to get the absolute best product or service but also pay the least possible fee. The seller wants to provide the least product or service he can provide while still getting the highest price. Usually the best deals are when both parties feel a little dissatisfied. The buyer thinks they paid too much and seller thinks he received too little.

In some ways, our transactions with God are like that. We want salvation, deliverance from sin, death, disease, poverty, low self-esteem, and everything else. But, we are willing to pay little or nothing for it. God knows we are unable to afford even ONE of his benefits, let alone all these. The price is infinite. That is why he sent his son Jesus to pay that price for us. Many people figure that lets them off the hook and there is nothing they need to do except accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Unfortunately for some, that is not the whole deal. They fail to read passages such as Romans 12:1 where we are to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God which is our reasonable service. A LIVING SACRIFICE. It's tough being killed while you are still alive! One Biblical passage talks about being killed all the day long! It can really be tough.

You see, even though Jesus paid it all, we are still expected to lay down everything. Does "take up your cross" sound familiar? It is not as though we can purchase God's favor. It is not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to his mercy that he saves us. However, God expects us to give him everything. If we withhold from him, he realizes that we have no understanding what it took to save us. God does not appreciate it when we are ungrateful, just as a businessman who gives a very special deal does not appreciate it when the customer is ungrateful. You see, God's price is very high, but he delivers on everything he simply their "reasonable service". It is the same with forgiveness - we must forgive because we are forgiven. If we refuse to forgive others, Christ refuses to forgive us. It is no option for us. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He still requires everything of us. Any thing God asks for is only our reasonable service. An unreasonable God to do business with? No, a God who wants followers who understand how much he paid, and who are willing to live their lives as a sacrifice of praise to him

Get to know this Christ today. Do not reject him because of the price. Look at what he offers and give him whatever he asks of you. Know that everything you are and everything you have pales in comparison with what he was willing to give for you. God knows the value of what he is offering. He expects us to know as well and to respond to him accordingly.

One more thing. Everyone has to do business with God sooner or later. Many look at the terms and say "No Thanks!" The problem is, we have to do business with God sooner or later. Psalm 2 says "Kiss the Son, Lest He be angry." If we don't give our lives to Christ now, God will extract every last cent. It is in the not small print in his proposal to us. He says that it his proposal of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit is rejected, the full price for sin will be extracted from us, and since we can never paid it, we are doomed to a Christless eternity in Hell. How foolish it is to trade some "freedom" here for eternal bondage and suffering.

Are fleeting moments of pleasure which are followed by guilt really worth the price of eternal punishment? The credit card companies are being investigated because of predatory and abusive practices. Believe me, you would rather pay 30% interest, $49 late fees, $49 over the limit fees, and every other creative way there is to hit people while they are down rather than try to pay God the wages of sin.

The wages of sin are death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.