The best part of climbing a mountain is the moment that you reach the very top and look back at where you came from. This moment is what I like to refer to as the payoff.
I like to refer to it as the payoff because in order to have made it, there was a price that had to be paid. The price was advanced training and strenuous hiking. Most often, the more difficult the hike, the greater the payoff.
This makes sense on a lot of levels. When we practice hard at sports, the payoff is performing well in the game. When we work hard in school, the payoff is acquired knowledge. When we work hard at playing a musical instrument, the payoff is the ability to make music. When we work hard at our place of employment, the payoff is both satisfaction for a job well done and actual pay.
Payoffs are different when it comes to our salvation. They are different because no amount of work produces any kind of payoff. This is a strange thing to us since most things that we work hard at produces a payoff. Not so with your salvation. There was a price paid for your salvation and it was the steepest price that has ever been paid for anything. The difficulty? Beyond our imagination.
When Jesus accepted the cross, he took on extreme physical suffering, and that, extreme as it was, we can somewhat grasp. What we cannot imagine is what it required of Him to take upon Himself all of our sins and the feeling of being forsaken by God.
The payoff? There were many payoffs, but the one I want to discuss now is your payoff. Jesus did the hard work and those who put their faith in Him get the payoff. The whole concept is crazy!
It’s like being carried to the top of a mountain and set on the summit. It’s like playing a sport for the first time and being the best in the world at that sport. It’s like never cracking open a book, but being the most brilliant scholar who ever lived. It’s like never practicing the piano but being able to make beautiful music. It’s like showing up at your place of employment and being promoted to CEO and given a million-dollar bonus as soon as you walk in the door.
When Jesus saves us, we get the promise of the greatest payoff of all time – a home with Him for all eternity in a place that is wonderful to extremes unimaginable.
We who follow Jesus, who put our faith in His work completed on the cross, have faith in His promises and wait with great expectation for that greatest of payoffs.
John 14:1-3, Jesus says, Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
Put your faith in Jesus – in His work for your salvation. In faith, obey His holy commandments. Live for Him in humble anticipation of the fulfillment of His promises. You will not regret following Jesus – His payoff is the only payoff that has ever been truly worthwhile.
Much love to you all!
Wes LeFlore (918) 607-8489 or huskerwes1@gmail.com
