My nephew, Josh Carter, is serving as a missionary in Borneo and shared a conversation he had with a Muslim neighbor of his. They were talking one day when his friend mentioned that he was determined to be a good Muslim. He would pray three times a day and dedicate his life to being obedient to the Koran. The reason for his devotion was because, “Heaven is expensive.”
Josh was struck by the phrase. He thought, yes, heaven IS expensive. Christians know that we don’t have what it takes to earn or buy heaven. The stark difference between Christianity and other world religions is that Jesus paid the price when no one else could. It is far more expensive than we could ever give. It took all of Jesus, everything, for Him to purchase heaven. And, yet, He did.
Heaven is expensive. Jesus paid the price. Instead of living lives of gritty determination trying somehow to earn our way to heaven – shouldn’t we just accept the gift and live our lives in gratitude?
