"4GIVN"

Taken at the nationwide office in woodcraft shopping center 

For those of us that enjoy the privilege of driving, we are all aware of the requirement to have insurance.

Having an insurance policy allows us to form a contract with a representative that will pay for our vehicular sins when we commit them.

In fact, I was recently walking past an insurance broker’s window with an advertisement in it.  In the ad, there was a man holding a personalized license plate that said, “4GIVN.”  I thought, WOW!!!!  I sure hope this insurance company has enough money.

That sign really got me thinking about Jesus’ role during this Advent.  Jesus is coming to the world as our contract and as the fulfillment of our contract.  He’s our representative that promises to reconcile our sins, and is the payment in full for all our sins against the Father.

If we can trust that an insurance company will forgive us of our accidents because it is in a contract, then why do we sometimes have a hard time believing that Jesus Christ paid for all (and I mean ALL!) our inequities?  Isn’t it written in God’s contract with us - the Holy Bible?

Rather than living under all this burden of sin with lives full of guilt, shame, and despair, Jesus is coming to alleviate us of this burden.  He gives us the same promise that he gave the woman caught in the act of adultery, “neither do I condemn you: go, and sin no more.”

The Jesus that I celebrate during this Advent period is the one who takes my contract and changes it into a covenant; a contract of law exchanged for a covenant of grace.

Thanks be to God.

John Carpenter
www.stlukesdurham.org