offer accepted!

hello! welcome back to me. it has been ages, i know...i kept getting competing and better offers than sitting and writing and sharing my thoughts :-)

which brings me to this...

there's an expression that generally carries a derogatory connotation. if you get this title, it's generally not a good thing. it's "king or queen of the better offer." i've been guilty of this on more than one occasion. it's one thing to get 2 offers at once and have to choose one or the other, or neither; it's something else entirely to definitively accept an offer, only to turn around and accept another offer. sometimes it can't be helped, and the second offer takes precedence because of utter importance. but sometimes favourtism is the clear impetus.

i got thinking about this the other day, given the time of year it is. let me cut right to the punch line. we're all guilty of accepting the better offer, if we've accepted that Jesus actually is Emmanuel, God with us, who came to save us from our sins with the sacrifice He made on Calvary...if we accept that He actually did what Abraham prophetically told his son Isaac He would do..."God will provide Himself a Lamb" (gen. 22:8), and if we apply that sacrifice to our lives by choosing God's offer: abundant life here on earth, followed by eternal life.

don't kid yourself, or take a chance and hope you were born perfect. why take the chance, and wind up being wrong? i dare you to recognize and acknowledge that you were born with free will, with the opportunity to choose the better offer. we all have set before us "life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life" (deut. 30:19). take the better offer that comes with christmas, the life Christ lived, and the sacrifice that He made to save us. accept that He is Saviour, and wants to be your Saviour. accept the better offer of salvation, by having Christ's death, burial, and resurrection applied to your life by following the biblical, apostalic plan of salvation found in acts 2:38. accept the better offer! being king or queen of the better offer isn't that bad, spiritually speaking :-)

once we've accepted the better offer of life over death, because of the nature of free will and choice, we are often presented with tantalizing offers that can put us in compromising situations that look good in the moment. for those who've accepted the better offer of salvation, but perhaps are struggling with other competing offers for your time, or your attitude, or your attention, or your commitment, or your faithfulness, or whatever, let me remind you of some of what your initial acceptance affords, which you would sacrifice by going back on the offer you first accepted. hebrews talks about the many better things that accompany salvation. here are a few: a better hope (7:19), a better covenant (8:6), better promises (8:6), a better reward in heaven (10:34). be resilient. you've already accepted the better offer. don't be tempted by something that masks itself as being a better offer. remind the offerer you already accepted the better offer, and your mind can't be changed. you've already accepted the better offer; everything else pales in comparison, is dull competition, and doesn't stand a chance of being accepted. let this verse ring in your ear as a reminder once you've already accepted the better offer, that accepting any other puts you in jeopardy: "for if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins" (hebrews 10:26). in other words, don't change your mind about the offer you accepted in Christ, in favour of what will invariably be fleeting, empty, and resulting in ultimate loss.

so, be king or queen of the better offer. it's why Christ came. He wants you to accept His offer and He's relentless in His pursuit of your acceptance. don't disappoint Him by accepting any other lack luster offer...He "offered one sacrifice for sins for ever" (hebrews 10:12), and He did it for you. and if you've already accepted life over death, live each day in a way that affirms and makes accessible all the better things God has for you.