Lauriault: Jesus our only ticket to eternal life

I attended a fundraiser recently that included a silent auction (several pictures of that event were in last week's Quay County Sun). For each bid a ticket was given toward a drawing for a GPS unit.

I had bid a couple of times each on several items and had eight or ten tickets. When the time came for drawing, the last three numbers on the selected ticket were 648. After three calls and a countdown from ten, it was concluded that the holder of ticket 648 had left the building. So, another ticket was selected and it had one of my numbers on it.

Actually, it was probably my wife's ticket as she was the first one of us to bid and it was the lowest number. Waiting until she made her rounds let me know what she was interested in. I actually won one of those things for her and she wears it now with pride.

Anyway, upon winning the GPS unit after another had lost their opportunity, some similarities between that and the Christian life occurred to me.

First, someone had to give something up for me to be a winner. If number 648 hadn't left the building, I wouldn't have my GPS and I would continue to get lost in big cities, like Clovis.

Jesus had it all in heaven, including equal status as God. He left that building to come to earth making the ultimate sacrifice by giving up his life on the cross for our sins, which separate us from God (Isaiah 59:2; Philippians 2:5-8; 1 Peter 2:24; Romans 6:2-8).

Second, if we want to stay a winner in the Christian life, we cannot leave the building of God's household and we have to be willing to give something up ourselves (1 Corinthians 3:9; 1 Timothy 3:15; Matthew 23:11-12; Philippians 2:1-4).

In doing that, we allow the love of Jesus to shine through so others also can be attracted to him (1 Peter 2:12; Titus 2:9-10; 2 Corinthians 4:5-11).

I want to thank the holder of ticket number 648 for leaving the building. I suspect they had no inkling about winning the GPS unit and we've had a lot of fun playing around with it.

When it comes to our salvation, we can know we're a winner as it anyone who starts and finishes the Christian life (1 John 5:13; Revelation 2:10; John 15:9-11; Romans 11:19-23; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27).

But our salvation is certainly nothing to play around with and I'm glad Jesus didn't leave the cross because that was and is our only ticket to eternal life. He actually endured the cross with joy and probably a sense of pride because of what it would bring about (Hebrews 12:1-2).

I've been bragging about the GPS unit we won and my wife wears her new jewelry with pride. Do you wear the Christian name with pride in a way that will be attractive to others as you set aside yourself and allow Jesus to shine?

Leonard Lauriault is a member of the Church of Christ in Logan. Contact him at [email protected]