As I was getting our home all decorated for soon to arrive Christmas, I couldn’t help but think how Jesus left the “splendor” of heaven those many years ago to come to be born in a barn in an animal feeding trough. He then walked the dusty roads to heal the sick and raise the dead. His journey’s end in this old sin driven world was to be beaten unmercifully and hung on an old rugged cross to die for me and you. Because of that great love for us, the Bible in Romans 8:29 states that we who have accepted Christ as our personal Savior have been destined from the beginning to be molded into the image of God’s dear Son. Jesus paid the highest price that could be paid, His precious blood for us to be transformed.
Oh, what a price!
Several years ago I heard a preacher share a story (fiction or true, I am unaware), but it sure illustrates my point. In a small village in Africa it was time for a young man to be married. As was the usual custom, he would go around the area and visit all the eligible ladies. At that point the fathers would begin to state how many cows it would take to buy their daughter. Not one had ever been worth more than six cows. Most had no more value than 2 or 3 cows. A very strange thing happened when this young man saw a young woman and told her father that he would pay 8 cows. WHAT 8 COWS? No one had ever paid that, especially for a somewhat sad and undesirable prospect. Several years later when the young man and his 8 cow wife came back to the village to visit her family, people were in awe of her beauty and grace. WHAT HAPPENED was the talk of the village. The young man made this statement, “I paid more for my wife that has ever been paid so that she could become what I paid for her!”
Oh, my friend, didn’t Jesus pay the highest price that has ever been paid that we could be being changed into His likeness day by day by the power of the Holy Spirit.
WOW, what a Savior!
Joy,
Phyllis