Surviving Chaos

It’s that time again; another weekly trip to the grocery store. When you have a growing family, grocery shopping is like supporting a small nation.

If you were to examine my receipt you’d find all the usual items: bread, milk, eggs, perhaps some paper towels. Maybe even a couple of things I didn’t intend to buy but somehow ended up in my cart.

But at the end of the receipt, you always find the same thing: the total.

These days, a receipt’s total can be a little shocking. Prices have risen, and everything seems to cost more than it used to.

This week, while double checking the total on one of my receipts, I realized something. A receipt doesn’t show you what is owed. A receipt tells you what something costs and proves someone has already paid. Communion does the same thing.

During Communion, we gather around the Lord’s table to remember what our redemption cost and who paid the price. Our salvation wasn’t purchased with silver or gold, not earned through good works or religious deeds. Only the shed blood of Jesus could satisfy the debt of our sin and secure our redemption. If our salvation depended on us paying for our own debt, we’d have no hope. But that’s why Jesus came.

On the cross, Jesus took upon Himself the punishment we deserved. He paid the debt we could never pay. Isaiah 53:5 says, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

That’s why Jesus’ words from the cross are so powerful. Through his words: “It is finished” (John 19:30), Jesus declared that His saving work was complete and victory had been achieved.

Listen to how Paul explains this in Colossians 2:13-14, “13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. (NLT)

In other words, “We were dead in sin, but Jesus brought us back to life. He fully wiped out our debt, forgave us completely, and won the victory over everything that stood against us.”

The record of our sin was nailed to the cross because Jesus paid the price Himself.

When I think about receipts, I don’t just think about groceries anymore. I think about the cross.

It reminds me of what my redemption cost.

It reminds me of who paid the price.

And stamped across the top is written the most amazing truth… PAID IN FULL!

Our account has been settled. The sacrifice has been made. The victory has been won.

So, as you eat the bread, remember His body given for you.

As you drink from the cup, remember His blood poured out for you.

May we never allow the price paid for our redemption to become ordinary.

May we remember the cost and then worship with gratitude the One who PAID IT IN FULL.