Free gift of salvation illustrated

A documentary filmmaker, Mark, went to Hawaii to capture the stories of pearl divers. These guys make unassisted dives to retrieve oysters. By “unassisted,” we mean they have no oxygen tanks. They’re diving in the skin God gave them, holding their breath. This is a feat that takes years of training and is never without danger.

Mark interviewed an older pearl diver, Mr. H, in the elderly man’s small home. Mark heard the tragic story of Mr. H’s son, who died one day after diving too deep or staying under too long. On that fatal dive, the son harvested an oyster that contained a truly amazing pearl, much larger than normal.

Mr. H showed it to him. The old man kept it in a prominent place, on display on a shelf in his living room.

During the course of their interviews, Mark and Mr. H became friends. When it was time for the younger man to leave Hawaii, he pondered how he might help and honor the old man. He offered to buy the amazing pearl from him. Mark did his research and purposely offered Mr. H a sum that was significantly above market value, thinking to honor Mr. H and provide him with some needed, monetary assistance.

Mr. H refused. In fact, he seemed offended by the offer.

On the day Mark was to fly back, he returned to Mr. H’s home to apologize for any offense he had caused. To his surprise, the man handed him the stunning pearl and told Mark to take it as a gift.

Mark said, “I offered you a lot of money for this. Why would you refuse and then give me your son’s pearl for nothing?”

“My son died harvesting this pearl,” Mr. H replied. “If I let you purchase it, then whatever price I accept, it’s like I’m putting a value on my son’s life.

“But if I give it to you as a gift, because you are my friend, the life of my son is not cheapened, but honored, and the pearl becomes even more valuable than before.”

This little story does a great job of pointing to Jesus Christ. Scripture teaches that he gave up his life to purchase salvation for his people. By his perfect obedience to God’s will, he earned what we could never pay for ourselves.

If there was an amount we could pay, of either blood or treasure, in exchange for forgiveness from sin and our place in glory, then salvation would come through paying that price. The price we paid would be the actual value of those things.

However, the Bible says even the world itself is not enough payment: It took the life of God’s well-loved Son.

This simple concept, my friends, is why the gospel of Jesus is good news. The only possible payment for your rescue has been made. You can’t trade anything for it. But you can, in fact, receive it as a gift. This is the only way to honor the sacrifice of the Son of God.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

Gordan Runyan is pastor of Tucumcari's Immanuel Baptist Church and author of "Radical Moses: The Amazing Civil Freedom Built into Ancient Israel." Contact him at: [email protected].