Too Good To Be True?
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“Free Flight: Rio de Janeiro to Miami, Florida.”
I wasn’t the only person to hear about the offer but one of the few to phone and request details. The courier service offered an airline ticket to anyone willing to carry a bag of mail to the States.
No company makes such offers anymore. But this was 1985- years before intense airport security. My dad was dying of ALS, and airline tickets were expensive. Free tickets? The offer sounded too good to be true.
So I walked away from it.
Many do the same with John 3:16. Millions read the verse. Only a handful trust it. Wary of a catch perhaps? Not needy enough maybe? Cautioned by guarded friends?
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I was. Other Rio residents saw the same offer. Some read it and smelled a rat. “Don’t risk it,” one warned me. “Better to buy your own ticket.”
But I couldn’t afford one. Each call home to Mom brought worse news. “The doctor says it’s time to call hospice.”
So I revisited the flyer. Desperation heightened my interest. Doesn’t it always?
When desperation typhoons into your world, God’s offer of a free flight home demands a second look. John 3:16 morphs from a nice verse into a life vest.
Some of you are wearing it. You can recount the day you put it on. These words have kept you company through multiple windswept winters. I pray they warm you through the ones that remain.
Others of you are still studying the flyer. Still pondering the possibility, wrestling with the promise. One day wondering what kind of fool offer this is, the next wondering what kind of fool would turn it down.
I urge you not to. Don’t walk away from this one. Who else can get you home? Take Jesus’ offer. Get on board. You don’t want to miss the chance to see your Father.
Thanks to the courier folks, I was present at my father’s death. Thanks to God, he’ll be present at yours. He cares too much not to be.
Believe in him and you
will . . .
not . . .
perish.
You will have life, eternal life, forever.
From 3:16, The Numbers of Hope
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2007) Max Lucado
Used by permission
Question: What do you think causes a lot of people to reject God’s gracious offer of salvation?
About this Author: Max Lucado
