Morning Devotional

August 16, 2003

"Ransomed"  

by Don Emmitte

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For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve others, and to give my life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45 NLT).

During the Civil War, the Confederate Army had again invaded the North. The Confederate general came to Hagerstown, Maryland, and he threatened to burn the town unless they came up with a $20,000 ransom. A local businessman rallied the townspeople and he collected the ransom. Hagerstown was spared. Then the Confederate forces moved on to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and made the same demand. Those people did not come up with the ransom. Chambersburg was burned to the ground. 

Ransom unpaid, you pay the penalty. Ransom paid, you go free. The ransom made the difference. That's true, not only in the history of those Civil War communities, it's true in our own personal histories. You and I face a terrible penalty and the ransom makes all the difference. Not just for now, but for eternity.  

The penalty every one of us faces is spelled out in six stark words in the Bible: the wages of sin is death (Cf. Romans 6:23). In other words, what we get paid for running our life our way instead of God's way is "death." And the Bible makes it clear that death is a spiritual death, eternal separation from the God who made us. "Hell" is the word God uses to describe an unspeakable eternity without Him, without His love and with no relief. It's a price I deserve to pay because I have made me the center of my universe and I have pushed God to the edge. It's a price we all deserve to pay. Our fear of death is not irrational especially in light of the judgment on the other side.  

But then there's the ransom. Jesus tells us about it in our reading for today. He says, "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." The price for you to go free has been paid by the only Son God has. When Jesus was going through that awful agony of the cross, He was literally paying for every thing you've ever done against God. For you to pay for your sins would take an eternity in hell. But the Son of God was paying your price, going through your hell for you, as He sacrificed His life on the cross. He was taking your place!  

So the price has been paid. But only you can personalize for yourself what Jesus died to do for you. Your penalty before God is marked "paid" the moment you put your total trust in Jesus Christ to be your own personal Savior from your own personal sins. A rescuer comes and throws out a line to a drowning man, but that man has to grab the line. Jesus has done everything that needed to be done for your sins to be forgiven, for you to be rescued from an awful eternity. But you have to grab Him with all the faith you've got and say, "Jesus, You're my only hope."