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By Linda Manhardt, Major
We recently had the first ever gospel arts camp for the children of the training college’s five outreaches. The college could accommodate 30-40 young people. The cadets had been talking about it with them for a couple of weeks, and they were excited.
During the camp, the kids would be exposed to worship team work, chorus, brass band, guitar, timbrel, interpretive dance, puppetry and hip hop dance. It was all set. We told them where to be, and we picked them up on that first day.
We had asked that each child bring 30 pesos (less than a dollar) to help pay for their food during the camp. At one stop, two brothers came to the van, wanting to come, but they didn’t have their 30 pesos.They were disappointed when the driver left without them.
When the van arrived at the college, I was told about the two boys who didn’t come because they lacked the small fee. I felt terrible that they so wanted to come but couldn’t. So I gave the driver sixty pesos and told him to hurry and go back and get them before the welcome session started.
When he returned, only one of them was with him.
The boys had immediately gone to the garbage areas and began scrounging in the streets to find plastic, glass and cans that they could sell to earn the fee. The driver found one of the boys digging through the garbage but could not find the other.
The second boy was able to attend the next day, but it was unfortunate that he had spent an entire day digging through the garbage to pay for something that had already been paid for.
It’s kind of like what some of us do. We insist on “digging through the garbage” even though the price has already been paid for each of us.
Are you one who feels you must work to obtain forgiveness and acceptance by God and entrance into his family? Do you feel you must “prove” your worth to him? I’ve got some good news and some bad news. Bad news first.
The bad news is: There is nothing you can do to make yourself worthy to God.
The good news is: You don’t have to. The precious blood of Jesus makes us righteous.
The price has been paid. We can never earn it ourselves, no matter how many good deeds we do. All we have to do is accept the gift.
Stop “digging through the garbage” to earn something that’s already yours. Jump in the van and enjoy the adventure!