Flat Rate Salvation

The post office is a strange place. Not strange like wearing black socks and sandals, but strange like not knowing which fork to use at a dinner party. This unique entity brings together the unfortunate combination of standing in a slow moving line composed of dozens of strangers, with that of a room décor which, to quote the late Phil Harris, “has all the personality of an old man’s knee.”

Thus constrained to endure this unsettling arrangement, one is forced to participate in the arduous task of keeping occupied while simultaneously avoiding the appearance of staring at anyone. It was while enduring this particular experience just yesterday that I happened to spend several moments gazing at the new priority mail display.

When I was in college I spent a year working in a corporate mailroom and another year working in a pack and ship store. The modus operandi in those days was to schlep the package over the scale, wait for the needle to stop bouncing, then look it up on the chart to see how much the postage would be. The price to send the package was thus directly correlated with the weight of the box. The more items that the shipper would stick inside the box, the higher the cost to mail said box became.

Upon determining the cost to ship the box and affixing the postage, you still weren’t guaranteed success.  When the post office received the box, the very first thing they would do was weigh it again and make sure that your chart matched their chart and the price was truly paid. If not, it got sent back to you with the most dreaded of labels, Insufficient Postage. Somewhere, somehow, somebody came to the brilliant conclusion that all that weighing was becoming a bit cumbersome and decided to simplify the process. Thus the flat rate shipping box was born.

The concept is simple. Get a box, stuff whatever you want to inside it, pay the fee and wave it goodbye. Whether you stick in a single feather or load it with a pile of rocks, it doesn’t matter. The price is the same for both. There is no weighing of the package, no consulting the chart, no verification by the post office to ensure you have met the requirements, and best of all, no chance that it will be returned to you. One fee pays it all.

In the book of John, a man named Nicodemus came to see Jesus late one night. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin. His entire belief system was based on making some sort of atonement in exchange for every unclean act. Everything, from touching a dead body, to eating the wrong food, to breaking a commandment had its own remedy that had to be done in accordance with the law in order to receive atonement. This not only had to be handled on a case by case basis, but had to be verified by the priest to ensure nothing was missed.

In this evening encounter, Jesus brings to Nicodemus something radical. Jesus takes this concept of sin and salvation and replaces it with a single payment for sin that wipes out all transgressions in an instantaneous soul changing sweep. In John 3:3, Jesus says "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." (NIV)

This caused some confusion with Nicodemus and part of Jesus' answer became one of the best known passages in all of scripture. 16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God (NIV)

Often times, we approach God as if we are still under the old system. We somehow allow Satan to convince us that the sin we have committed exceeds the limit of what Christ’s atonement is able to cover. We go through life wondering if we’ve done enough to keep our spiritual atonement from being returned to us. If that describes where you are at, it’s time to take that burden of guilt and shame and lay it at the feet of Christ. Regardless of the what you are carrying to the cross, when you give it over to God, the price is paid, the burden is lifted and salvation comes.

This Easter season, remember the price that Christ paid for you and know that In Him, his final words from the cross still ring true. “It is finished.” The price has been paid, the offer has been extended. All we have to do is accept it.

Prayer: That God will remind you that the price has been alredy paid.

Suggested Scritpure: John 3:16, Romans 5:8