In 1896 Thomas Sperry and Shelley Byron Hutchinson founded the Sperry and Hutchinson Company. To encourage sales they began issuing trading stamps that could be redeemed for free merchandise.
S&H Green Stamps weren’t the only ones out there. Depending on where people lived, they might collect Triple S Stamps, Plaid Stamps, Top Value Stamps, or a number of others.
Each dollar spent earned a certain number of points, or stamps. They were often pasted in booklets and kept by the customer until they were ready for redemption. It could take years, one stamp at a time, to purchase something really big, like a refrigerator or a stove, or even a trip to Disneyland.
One stamp at a time.
Trading stamps are mostly discontinued now, converted to a digital version called reward points. However, leftover paper S&H Green Stamps are still valid and can be exchanged for the digital version simply by going online. Once given, they do not expire.
Jesus was the ultimate collector of trading stamps. He paid for them one at a time with each drop of blood he shed on the cross. He even pasted them into a trading stamp booklet for us, ready for us to take to the redemption center.
Our trading stamp booklet is called the Bible, and the stamps are the words that we read. With our redemption book, we can purchase the biggest prize of all. Eternal life.
Colossians 1:14-15 gives us the doctrine that we base our Christian faith on, but it gives us so much more. This passage is our trading stamp catalogue, telling us both the price and the prize available to us.
Each drop of Jesus’ blood buys a stamp. His shed blood adds up to a full booklet. Inside that booklet are enough stamps to provide us complete forgiveness of our sins. This passage even describes the product, for the Son whom we strive to emulate is the exact image of God the Father, the Creator of all things.
And we get it all for free.
Jesus holds it out to us, telling us to check the catalogue. There is a gift inside, he informs us, one that is so magnificent that no amount of money can purchase it. It is part of his redemption program, and his are the only trading stamps that can purchase it.
Trading stamp redemption, offered to us for free. How great is that?
Jesus paid the price so that we could have the gift of eternal life. How can we refuse?
Copyright © 2014 MyChurchNotes.net
Code: FGO.A.31.14a.vp