The Wages of Sin is Death

Can you imagine this:

You've been kidnapped. The kidnapper is a psychotic doctor who wants to slowly torture you in the likes of the Saw series, without actually letting you die. He starts, say, using a nailclipper to clip off the flesh on your finger, with the final intent to sever it from your hand. *shudders* And then, at the same time, he starts, say, giving you paper cuts on your lips, again and again and again. And at the same time too, he uses a pair of scissors to snip off and split the web of your fingers and toes, one per hour. And all the time, he's gonna bandage you up, give you medication, disinfect the wounds so you'll heal, just for him to inflict those wounds again.

Am I sick or am I sick?

Anyways, the whole world knows you've been kidnapped. Your family, somehow, is unable to pay the ransom for your release. Your friends try to chip in but the total is still not enough. The news is all over in the papers.  You know the situation outside is frantic, and it seems like all hope is lost. The police can't find the kidnapper, and consequently, you. You think it's the end of your life... but remember that the kidnapper is a psycho and won't let you die that easily, if at all.

Suddenly, one day, there is a man on the news with that sum of money demanded by the kidnapper. He's pleading on TV with the psycho doctor to just take the money and leave you alone. You watch the TV and you don't recognize this man. At all. He's a complete stranger! The kidnapper asks you if you know the guy, and you say no. He asks if you would want him to take this stranger's money and be let free? Huh? What kind of question is that? Well, he's psycho, remember?

So what will your answer be? Take the money and be free of this torturer forever, and then slowly think of how to repay him back? Or not take that sum and continue to be tortured just because you don't know him and he's a stranger?

I don't know about you, but the answer is pretty obvious to me: TAKE THE MONEY AND BE FREE!!!

Well, if you think like me, then let me tell you this scenario is more real than you can imagine! You've already been kidnapped and a ransom has been demanded. The torture will begin when your life ends. And it will be for eternity. You'll be cut, then you'll heal, and be cut again, and healed, and the cycle just keeps going. But the ransom has already been paid. You just need to believe it. You just need to believe that it's been paid, and you'll be free from torture!

Do you believe the ransom has been paid?

Jesus said, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Jesus then said about the ransom, "No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."

Again, Jesus said, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."

We are all sinners and our sins will be punished by the tortures in Hell. Would you reject the ransom just because you do not know Jesus? No! You'd take the ransom and be free first! Then, in eventual thankfulness and gratefulness, you'll find ways and means to serve this "stranger" with your life!

For all you believers, are you repaying Jesus' ransom with your life? Technically, Jesus owns you now because without His ransom, you will still be in chains.

For all you non-believers, are you foolish enough to reject the ransom just because you do not know Jesus? Are you really that foolish?!