It's been busy - a downsizing move, multiple garage sales, prepping our 20-year-old home for sale, and a trip to WA - but it's time to post again.
I heard this morning that a petition is circulating in protest of what some believe are unreasonably high rates from our local power company, KCPL (Kansas City Power and Light). I don't know whether the complaints are well-founded, but my ears perked up at the story because we have parodied the company brand (perfectly legal for non-profits to do) for our new children's midweek ministry, JCPL (Jesus Christ Power and Light). The claim in the petition reminds me of the foundational doctrine at the core of what we will be teaching our kids.
God created mankind for his own glory, and his good plan was for us to be in close fellowship with him, resembling him and representing him (the imago dei - the "image of God") as we rule this good planet he created and filled with life (Gn 1-2). But God's perfect holiness requires the same of those made in his image. Because of mankind's rebellion in Gn 3, we had a price on our heads. Like any restoration project has a cost, our reconciliation to God, a return to a righteous standing, also has a cost. And here was our problem: the amount due is way beyond what any of us could ever pay. It would be like getting a bill from KCPL for 20 trillion dollars - the current national debt - as an individual. In reality, it is worse, for the debt of our sin is beyond our calculation.
Who could possibly have the resources to take care of this debt? For an electric bill, only the full authority of KCPL - those who possessed all its identity and resources - could cover this debt. For sin, only God's full identity and resources could cover that debt. That is what Christ offers, since he is fully God, and possesses all resources as our Creator and the Founder of our salvation. And as such, he has canceled our debt at the cross, stamping "paid in full" on the heart of everyone who believes and follows him (Col 2:8-15).
So, before Jesus Christ is our Source for Power and Light, he is our divine bill-payer. And once the bill is paid - wow! If the debt for our sin was mind-blowing, the spiritual "juice" that hits our life circuits when Jesus turns on the lights is even greater (Rm 5:20)! Now that he paid the bill, Christ floods every one of his homes (every believer, cf. 2 Cor 6:16) with his infinite power and light (Acts 1:8, Mt 5:14-16).
I don't know enough to conclude whether this petition is well founded, whether KCPL's rates are too high. But I do understand that many people are bumbling around in the dark, frustrated and bruised. Unless someone comes around with a little light (namely, the Holy Spirit and us Christians), they can't even read their mail (namely, the Scriptures). Even when they do, many will prefer to blow off the bill, and Christ's payment, and just try to make the best of it. In effect, they sign the petition that says the cost of belief - submitting to the authority of Christ - is too high. How sad!
But these accounts are personal, and so are the choices. And we who are Christians are called to carry Christ's power and light to as many individuals as we can. We never know when we may get to watch the lights come on for a new follower of Christ!
