CROSSPATCH: The illusion of earning without doing much

SOMEONE out there really cares about me. Just recently I received the following messages on my cell phone:

• I have won R950 000 in a Rica Award draw;

• My sim card has won me R250 000 in a tobacco company promotion;

• Fifa has awarded me R930 000;

• In an EU/UN 2013 global grant donation I have won $300 000 (equivalent to R3 000 000)!

This R5 130 000 will keep me in luxury for the rest of my life, but please don’t mention it to SARS!

How sad that these wonderful promises are attempts by swindlers to steal money.

I wonder how many innocent victims have been caught and have seen exciting news deteriorate into disillusionment and loss of hard-earned money. The crooks must have fooled many people or they wouldn’t keep on with the scam.

Christians have promises that can be relied upon. Jesus promised in John 10:10 that he had come to give us abundant life. Before his ascension to heaven, he promised: “I will be with you always” (Matt. 28:20). To grieving Martha, Jesus made that wonderful promise: “He who believes in me shall live, even though he dies” (John 11:25). To his disciples before his crucifixion he said: “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2-3).

The apostle Paul lived a long, hazardous and eventful life in the service of our Lord. Towards the end of his life he was able to say: “I know whom I have believed and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day” (2 Timothy 1:12) and to the Philippians he wrote: “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).

Paul had experienced that God is faithful and honours his promises. Countless Christians through the centuries to the present day have found that God can be trusted.

The good news is that Jesus’s death brings forgiveness for wrongs committed, he gives purpose to our lives and his resurrection confirms the promise to us of eternal life.

I received another SMS, which promised that my life would change if I paid R1 per day to get Bible quotations. Jesus’s abundant life is available free of charge. He’s paid the price.