July 30, 2020
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It's late at night and I finally made it to my motel room. It's been a long day. I want a midnight snack or at least a can of soda. As I step outside my room, I hear the "whirr" of vending machines just down the hall. I stand in front of that thing, pondering my hardest decision of the day. Then I put my money in and I push the button. Usually, I get what I just paid for, but not always. Sometimes nothing comes. I push the button again, and again, and again. Not only do I not get my selection, but the coin return isn't working either. Those most frustrating times of all, when you're desperate enough to try again, and maybe again, putting in your money - and still nothing in return.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Disappointing Investments."
That vending machine turns out to be an investment with no return. You may have had financial investments like that, where you put a lot in, but you got very little back. Or you may have invested very heavily in a relationship, or several relationships, only to be disappointed with the return.
There are people who have invested heavily in a marriage and they've basically ended up with little to show for what they gave. You may be one of them. We invest so much of our life in our children, sometimes even there to be disappointed with the return in their lives. All we gave to be successful, all we poured into what we thought would give us security or approval, so many times we keep putting more and more into it, hoping it will finally pay off. But for many, it's loneliness that comes back, or stress, or hurt, or regrets over all that we've paid to get so little.
Our word for today from the Word of God is for all of us who have made some disappointing life investments. In Isaiah 55:1-2, God says, "Come, all you who are thirsty and come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk, without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare."
God's offer is simple, "Come to Me and I will give you what all your searching and all your spending has never delivered, and I will give it to you without cost." The reason none of our earth-investments have been able to satisfy the thirst in our heart is because we've been trying to get from them what we were supposed to get from a personal relationship with our Creator - which we have totally missed.
In Isaiah, that same book of the Bible, God says, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity (or the sin) of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). No one but the God who made you can fill the hole in your heart. Your sin has cut you off from Him, but God did something amazing to get you back. He invested His greatest treasure: His one and only Son.
The Bible tells us that in heaven, they're saying to Jesus: "With Your blood You purchased men for God" (Revelation 5:9). That's what Jesus invested in you: His blood; His life when He took on Himself all the shame and all the hell of all your sin when He died on the cross. That's why you accept God's invitation "without cost" because all your goodness and all your religion can't do a thing to remove your sin or get you into heaven. Only Jesus can and He paid the price. Only He could!
And today, you have the opportunity to receive what you could never buy - eternal life and a love relationship with Almighty God himself. It begins when you tell Him, "Lord, I want what You died to give me. I have no hope but You and Your death on the cross for me. The door is open. Come on in, Jesus."
It would be my great honor just to help you be sure that you have crossed over "from death to life" the Bible says, and into this unloseable relationship with Jesus. That's what our website's for. And I hope you go there and there find the information that has helped so many secure their relationship with Jesus. That website is ANewStory.com.
I will tell you this, the One who loved you enough to die for you, is powerful enough to walk out of His grave, you will find in him the one person who will never disappoint you.