Paid in Full

Paid in Full.

Jesus stamped these words on our past: on every mistake, every sin, every riotous thought that hasn’t honored Him. He stamped the words, inked with blood-red stain, on every wrong conception and misperception we have about Him, ourselves, each other, and this world.  It’s not just that He cancelled our debt from back then, but that He continues to pay the debts we incur every time those misperceptions hurt us or wound others.

It’s like going to a doctor for wounds inflicted by jealousy, fear, anger, or even unintentional prejudice—just to name a few of the ways a soul gets wounded. The Doctor removes the bandages that friends carefully applied, anoints the injuries with healing oil, and prescribes antibiotics for infection. Then at the clerk’s counter, the bill gets totaled. XXX amount for the doctor’s expertise; XXX for the medical supplies. Responsible, we write a check to pay the bill even as our hearts pinch with our pocketbooks because the check represents more than money. Each check means trying to do better next time, keeping more rules and all their fine print, and walking on egg-shells to keep from offense. It’s all the stuff Paul tells us in Galatians that the Law demands for right-standing with God. Such a high price for basic health care. But we need soul-provision, and the Holy Spirit is the only soul-physician around.

Then as the weight of our future failures fall heavily upon us, stooping our shoulders and bowing our heads, in walks the CEO of the medical center, the top Executive who pays the salaries of all the people on hHs staff and who owns the building with all its specialized equipment.  But He’s more than the CEO: He’s the Man we’re dating; the Man absolutely in love with every single one of us.

He takes the check we wrote—the payment that comes from bruised pieces of our hearts—tears it into tiny pieces and smiles at the clerk. “I’m covering this account. Every expense accrued on it in the past and from this day forward is paid in full. By Me.”

And it’s just that simple.

We need the Great Physician’s loving care, the generous oil of the Holy Spirit provided through the ministry of His church, and the merciful grace of family and friends. We’ll need these gifts every day of our lives, and we’ll need to give them out as lavishly as we’ve received them. The cost is more than we can ever afford to pay, but our heavenly account already holds our Bridegroom’s sprawling signature with the beautiful words, our guarantee: Paid in Full—For All Eternity.

Paul, former pharisee and appointed apostle, says it this way: "I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a 'law man' so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how and enabled me to do it." (Galations 2:19, The Message Bible)

And just in case we still don't get it, Paul presses home the point: "The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program [of rule-keeping] should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him." (Galations 3:11, The Message Bible; brackets mine)

And by the way, the CEO, the One we’re courting, He has alot of titles, alot of names. Most of us known Him best as Jesus.