The Price Of Admission
Timothy L. Dooley
Have you ever desired to go to an event, been invited to a show, or longed to see some great exhibit only to be discouraged by the price of admission? What is the determining factor in deciding whether the price of admission is too high? Is it not determined by how much we truly want something?
In understanding the value of our souls, we need to look first at what the Father of our souls was willing to pay in order to redeem us. One of the most memorized, used (and misused) scriptures in all the Bible has to be John 3:16. However, the truth is that God did so love “the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” Titus 2:14 tells us that Jesus “…gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
You see, God’s desire for us to be reconciled to Him was so important to Him that no price was too high. Just as faithful Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son of promise, so the Father of our souls was willing to sacrifice His only begotten Son. In John 15:13, Christ said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Seeing, then, how much our souls mean to God, we turn our attention on ourselves. What is your soul’s salvation worth to you? Jesus asks this very question in Matthew 16 when he inquires, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (v. 26).
In Mark 10, Jesus responded to the query of the rich young man that came to him desiring to know what it would cost to “inherit eternal life” (v. 17). He said that he must “sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven;” (v. 21). However, the young man was saddened by the answer of the Lord and “went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (v. 22). For him the price of admission was too high!
The apostle Peter’s response to this was, “… we have left everything and followed you” (v. 28). Our Lord replied, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life” (vs. 29-30).
Please, friend, hear the word of the Lord, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 10:35-39).
Sadly, for many today, the price of admission into the kingdom of heaven is just too high. Their allegiances lie with this life and the things of the world, and they will not pay the price necessary to see eternal life. How sad it will be in the Day of Judgment for those who gave up the eternal glory of God to hold on to the fleeting things of this life on earth.
Heaven will surely be worth it all! Be obedient and be faithful. –355 Klingler Rd, Paulding, OH 45879. New email: dooleytimothy@gmail.com