Total commitment

I was raised in a family of food gladiators. Around our home, every morsel of food was contested. I learned this art form as a young child at my Granny White’s house. With an immense number of cousins, no pantry, refrigerator, or countertop was sacred or safe. We would move through her house like ravaging marauders. If we found it, we ate it, all of it, as quickly as possible, lest a bigger cousin snatch the delicacy from our lips.

I discovered that this behavior could be problematic soon after I married. For a treat one evening I brought home Snickers for Jan and me (we were very poor). As soon as supper was finished I began to devour my indulgence. Jan deliberately disciplined herself, consuming half of her Snickers, placing the remainder on the counter. My eyes locked in on it. It did not make it through the night. Oh the rage of a woman deprived of half of a Snickers bar. It seems that Jan had a skill I lacked; something called moderation. This is a talent that has eluded my grasp to this day. Consequently, I am a diabetic and she is a svelte beauty looking 10 years younger than she actually is.

Although moderation is a great skill in food consumption, it is an untenable concept in the arena of the atonement. God could not extend a path of restoration to mankind without a total commitment. The Old Testament system was insufficient. The sacrifice was temporary at best. A spotless lamb was needed. A pure, sinless, blood sacrifice was necessitated. The atonement demanded total sacrifice. Moderation or comprise was not an option.

Through the atonement, Jesus became the ransom for our sin (Matt. 20:28). Sin is like a slave market in which sinners are “sold under sin (Rom. 7:14)”, under the sentence of death (Ezek. 18:4). Christ, through his substitutiary death, paid the price for our sin. That price cost Him everything. Through it we have reconciliation, a restored path back to God (2 Cor. 5:18). This is the story of the atonement. This is the gift of the atonement. This is the tragic cost of the atonement. It bears no semblance of compromise or moderation. “He paid a debt He did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay.” Thank the Lord, He paid it all!