Don't We Get A Discount?

 

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lmost daily I open the mailbox to find some sort of coupon offering unheard of discounts from the various merchants in towns.  Some are offering free financing, some offer discounts of 10%, some offer a buy-one-get-one-free discount, and still others entice us consumers with free gifts provide we purchase a particular item from their stores. 

 

Perhaps the most intriguing coupons I receive are those that have a rolling offer.  If you use the coupon early, you receive, say a 20% discount and if you use it after a certain date, the discount drops to 10%. The merchants’ intentions are quite clear, entice the customer to enter the store and to get something for less money.  It seems simple enough and who can fault anyone for wanting to save a little money, especially in today’s economy. 

 

While this practice makes good economic sense, we run the risk of trying to find discounts in every area of life.  This is especially true when it comes to spiritual things and our relationship with God.  We attempt to bargain with our Heavenly Father, wanting to know if we can receive His blessings at a discounted rate, meaning we expend less and gain more.  It simply doesn’t work that way! 

 

The idea of following Christ at a discount can be found in John 6:66, “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.”  Just prior to this verse, Jesus has described the cost of following him. In fact, Jesus never shied away from telling his followers that it would cost them everything to follow him. They would have to leave their homes, families, friends, ambitions, dreams, and lose their very lives in order to be his disciples. 

 

For most, this was too high a price to pay.  Can’t you just hear them trying to make a bargain with the Lord?  “Where is my discount?” “Unless I get a 10% to 20% reduction on your price, I am not interested.”  What a tragedy this is, a tragedy that continues to this very day as we try to get God to discount His expectations and commands for us.  We want God’s maximum blessing, but we want it at a minimum price. 

 

What if God worked on the principle of the discount?  What if He decided to give us 10% fewer heartbeats or 20% fewer years of life or 5% fewer breaths?  Have we ever thought about that?  We expect God to give us His best, however, we ask Him to give us a discount on what we owe to Him, and we owe Him everything we are and everything we have.   

 

King David was right when he said in 2 Samuel 24:24, “But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”   How much of a discount, I wonder, are we asking God for today?