Why is this still hard?

Had lunch with Joe Sangl today (if you have money worries, can't qualify for a mortgage, have a credit card with an unpaid balance, always seem to run out of money before you run out of month, or have a title loan on your car then Call Joe Now and make an appointment for financial counseling. Ten years from now I promise you'll want to buy Joe a new car to say Thank You, and be able to buy Joe's gift with cash ... though I doubt he'll accept it :-).

Remember what I said here ten years from now. Yes it is that easy to become debt free and stay that way IF you want to do it.
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I had a great time ... if you don't like Joe chances are you wouldn't like a man willing to throw life preservers to drowning families either ... but being a perpetual slow-thinker, I drove away unsure whether I'd been quite able to express what I was feeling. At least until now.

Communication is hard, especially with words. But then making this point is always hard when it should be so easy.
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Have you ever seen a beheading video?

Wow, that's unpleasant. But if you haven't ... especially if you're an agnostic, an atheist, a secular humanist ... or even a believer who considers him- or herself a follower of Christ yet still think you can make deals and "private arrangements" or have an "understanding" with the Creator ... then I wish you'd bookmark this page, Google and watch one from the web, then check back here before reading any further. I'm serious and I'm makng no apologies because this is your life we're talking about.

Better still, watch two or three ... so you get a real feel for what I'm talking about.
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Now I want you to picture it's you wearing the orange jump suit. Imagine yourself shackled, being led into a squalid, dim room with a video camera in the back and seeing a man in a black mask with a knife tucked in his belt waiting. You already know what the knife is there for and feel like your insides have just been kicked by a 6-legged mule.

Imagine feeling the sweat bursting on your forehead as you're shoved to your knees, then looking up into the camera and hearing the uneasy shuffling of the men standing behind you as the man in black starts reading. You feel like vomiting but wish you could cry instead ... because you feel so utterly helpless.

No one there will help you. You want to scream that you'd do anything ... anything to make it stop ... but no one's listening to you because they're listening to the hooded man who owns you instead and you think he must be the devil.

You wonder what your family is doing in another part of the world. You wish you could tell your executioners There's been a mistake, just let me go ... while beneath the masked man's voice you imagine the jeers around the world as your final moments are replayed on video and mocked for years after your execution.

You start hating yourself then because your imagination is showing you vivid pictures of what's coming soon as the man in the black mask stops reading and you can't make it stop ...

You lungs seem to catch on every breath and syllable and your heart feels like it's stopped each time he pauses or reaches the end of a sentence. You're so scared you're not even sure whether you've already lost your mind. Then the room goes blackly quiet and the world is dizzy, blurring forward in agonizing slow motion.

You close your eyes expecting to feel the knife plunge into your throat ... but then all the lights come on and suddenly all the hatred and rage you felt poised behind you is gone.

The camera shuts off and stops recording as the hooded man puts away his knife and helps you to your feet. He unties your binds, looks you in the eye and says in perfect English, "Someone else took your place, and you are free."

You think this must be a joke ... because it's too good to be true.

The hooded man is embarrassed, shrugs and tries to explain. "He said he took your place because he loves you and wanted you to believe it. He only asked for you to show others the same love ... and to live your life for him."
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I don't understand why some believers feel like tithing is too great of a sacrifice, why some Christians try to deal with God from the bottom of the deck, or why so many of us act like our so-called righteousness puts God is in our debt and makes him owe us one single thing more than we've already got.

Have we forgotten who paid the price in our place?
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I have problems with legalism, because God's power is infinite and also because God keeps his promises. When scripture says

"God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God" [Ephesians 2:8 NLT] I believe it ... without question, doubt or tacking on any fine print or disclaimers. Nothing we can do will ever measure up to what Christ has already done for us.

Like the prisoner suddenly released as he's about to be slaughtered simply because another was willing to die in his place, we did nothing eo earn our release and there is nothing we can do ... no matter how many rules or traditions we make up ... to repay that debt. Knowing Christ means being released ... and not having to struggle with fear or worry about losing our salvation.

Rejecting Pharisaical legalism doesn't mean I'm free to sin; it means I'm free from sin. Sin has no more power ... because Christ paid the price in full. Nor does Christ's sacrifice mean we were freed, only to become re-chained with organ music, stained glass windows and traditions. Instead of all those things we are free to follow him.

Besides, I can't think of one good reason to argue with the man who was willing to die in my place.