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Self-check lanes.
Supermarkets everywhere have them. We buzz through, ringing our groceries on our own, slipping our plastic in the slot and paying our bill.
It’s simple. We don’t have to wait on a cashier. We’re in, done, and out the door, on to bigger and better things.
Why, then, do so many people wait patiently (or no so patiently) in a line for a live checker? There’s got to be a reason. Are they buying a specialty product? Maybe there’s a question about pricing. Perhaps it’s the pleasure of interacting with a real person, to carry on a friendly conversation with someone who might be the highlight of their day.
But…with an empty self-check lane right next door, where all we have to do is move to the very next cash register? Why would anyone stand in line with ten buggies ahead of them?
Some wholesale member stores have a new process for checking out. We can skip the register altogether. We download an app that keeps track of our purchases as we shop, pay our bill online, and then show our digital receipt at the door and roll right on past those still waiting in line. Faster, faster, faster. That’s what counts. We get our goods, the store gets their money, and everyone’s happy.
Can’t Christianity work the same way? Quickly and efficiently? Acts 22:16 tells us it can:
“And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.”
Yes, it’s that simple. There’s no waiting in line, no checkout counter, and certainly no price checks to slow us down. When we choose Christ, we call on his name, and we are on to bigger and better things as soon as we walk out the door. Our sins are forgiven, we step out with Christ, and we are changed.
When we grasp the simplicity of the gospel, we find it’s easy to make Christ our Lord in everything we do.
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Code: FGO.I.01.16a.vp.esv