The price is paid

I've been struggling these past few days as to what to write. What would be interesting to read? Surely not the prices of supermarket items that I was thinking would have to do (4xLamb Chump Chops £4.89, 7x loose bananas £1.48 etc.)
Do you want to know that there is a village duck pond? Or that it is now dark at 4.40pm? See my dilemma——only a month in England and I have already run out of interesting things to write. So it is with great relief that I can recall an illustration told to us by this morning's speaker at St. Andrew's church (thanks Ian).



Today is Remembrance Sunday when the nation remembers those men and women, service and civilian, who have fallen during the Great War, WW2 and all conflicts since (http://www.poppy.org).
In the Great War—the supposed "war to end all wars"— it is estimated that there were more than 8,500,000 MILITARY deaths alone. The number of service personnel who have died in all twentieth century conflicts must be almost breathtakingly inestimable.

So what then, if we could hear the voices of the fallen soldiers, who went to war prepared to defend their country and paid the ultimate sacrifice and died to protect OUR freedoms, and they said to us now:
"We fought for you, endured pain and hardship for you and then died, so that you can enjoy peace and freedom from fear and oppression. Take our gift, it's yours to have!"
And we replied...
"No thanks. Not interested. We'd rather stay in conflict."

How foolish we would be! To reject a free gift that is priceless and at no cost to us...we would be the ridicule of all!
And yet, this is what we do when we reject God's greatest gift to us—Jesus' death in our place; the blameless in place of the guilty. To reject the loving offer of a reconciliation with God is foolish—for we are choosing to stay in conflict with God—a certain punishment & death—instead of the eternal life which is promised if we accept God as the rightful ruler of the world and our lives.

Precious words.

"Oh, to see my name, Written in the wounds, For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death, Life is mine to live, Won through Your selfless love.
This, the power of the cross: Son of God - slain for us.
What a love! What a cost! We stand forgiven at the cross."

(Townend/Getty copyright 2005)