You Are Invited!

            You are invited to travel back in time. Here! Sit beside me as we ride in our Chevy station wagon to the S&H Green Stamp Redemption Center.

            We’ve waited for this moment forever (in kid time). Mom saved those precious stamps in our kitchen junk drawer for who knows how long. And who had the job of licking those babies and putting them in their proper face-value frames on each page of the specially designed S&H Green Stamp books?

            Me! Yes, I was the one with the greenish-colored tongue. No problem though! I loved that duty because, at the end of those eons of months (maybe years) we dressed up for our trip to the next town, parked in front of that store, went in, and gazed at the real-life prizes we “won” which, up until now, we only dreamed of as we flipped through the S&H catalog, kept at home.

            Inside the Green Stamp Redemption Center were tables set up with beautiful displays. Those now real items—until now only flat images on pages at home—came to life. WE were going to purchase something amazing—something my many-times, discolored tongue played a part in making possible.

            Wow! Ready to redeem our stamp books! What would we choose? Toys, jewelry, dishes, a clock radio, small kitchen appliances, furnishings?

            Mom chose a blender. We’d never had one of those. It seemed all the saving up of those stamps from our grocery shopping and gas-buying disappeared so quickly when we redeemed them for one of these coveted items.

            But somehow the wonder of it all stayed with this then young girl who only wished for—oh, maybe a clock radio one day. But that was too many green stamp dreams away.

            I do remember, though, when my sister saved enough to buy a small, beautifully styled two-shelf bookcase. THAT was the ultimate purchase! She’d leave for college soon, and that bookcase traveled with her for quite some years after graduation.

            Green stamps have come and gone, but the memories of store check-out girls handing Mom her “earnings,” licking those wonders and placing them carefully in their appropriate place, and taking them to the redemption center? They remain.

            Now we travel on—much, much further back in time.

            You are invited to another place of redemption. This one displays no beauty. In fact, it’s dingy, dirty, uninviting, messy beyond belief. For this one you bring nothing. No stamps, no money, not even your good works will do. Then why go there?

            Because the Prize here is better than anything you could ever possibly imagine winning from an S&H Green Stamp Redemption Center or anywhere else, for that matter. You can’t even earn this Prize at all. It’s not for sale.

            Travel down the dirty city street, follow the drops of sweat and blood falling from One Whose body is literally shredded from the beatings He’s endured. For, at the end of this journey, you’ll find He’s done this with your prize in mind.

            Yes, He will die. Must die, but that’s the price. And hope of obtaining your prize? No line. No wait. No saving up. Only your need to drop at the foot of the cross bearing Jesus, the Son of God—Savior of the world. Your Savior, if you accept His invitation because…

            In only three days He will rise again and the gate to your price-paid prize will open wide for anyone who wants it—eternal life. Heaven!

            You are invited! Come as you are. No price to pay because Jesus already purchased your salvation with His Blood. All you need bring is your baggage of sin, kept in the junk-drawer of your broken life.

            Dump that burden. You don’t need it. You can be free.

            The choice is up to you. S&H—Salvation & Heaven! There’s no greater prize anywhere!

            I’ve made this trip, left my sin burden, and claimed my prize. Redeemed once and for all! Stamped & sealed by God’s Holy Spirit! Awaiting my final prize!

            If you’ve already done this also, then you know how wonderful this redemption is along with no end to the many times you can visit with the Savior, your Redeemer, from that moment on.           

 

There’s Room at the Cross for You (by Ira Stamphill)

There's Room At The Cross - SMS Men's Chorus (youtube.com)

 

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