Auctioned

There is a commercial on TV right now for a show about classic car autions. In the commercial the expert is suggesting that if you are new to classic car auctions you may want to employ the services of a handler who will help you keep from paying too much for an automobile. He says he knows of people who have overpayed by 2 or 3 hundred thousand dollars simply because they were caught up in the excitement of the auction and felt that just had to have that particular car.

Jesus suggests that we should consider the costs of discipleship before we agree to follow Him, as a builder considers all the costs of completing the building before he begins lest he become the laughing-stock of his community. Or as a king calls in his advisors before engaging his 10,000 warriors in battle with another who has 20,000 and sends messengers to negotiate the peace lest he be completely destroyed.

But God is more like the car-buyer who gets caught up in the excitement of the auction and ends up spending everything to purchase my soul. He had hoped to send a few prophets and angels to win the auction for my soul. But in the end he spent everything even his own self in order to purchase me. That is the message of the vineyard owner who is away and sends servants to retrieve his due rent. And when they fail, eventually sends his own son, whom the tenants kill. And isn't that the message of the parable of the pearl of great price. The parable is often interpretted in another way, but it seems clear to me that God is the collector who sells everything he has to purchase the one pearl of great price. The pearl - my soul. God loved me so much that he did not stop to count the cost, but sent his own Son that I should not perish but have ever lasting life.
Thank you Lord God.