BOGO
Recently I decided to go shopping for a fancy pillow. You know one of those pillows that are contour for people with neck pain. So I went into a well known store and found them. Kind of expensive if you ask me. But anyway, I was willing to pay the big bucks for no more neck pain. As I was checking out, the cashier said, "You know these are buy one get one free? Would you like your free one?" Of course I would. Anything free is great. So off I went with two contour pillows.
When I got home I immediately put my new contour pillows on the bed. And that is when I realized that I didn't need two. One was enough. So what to do with the other one. I decided to take it back to the store and get my money back. That is when the problems began.
I went back to the same cashier who sold me the pillows and told her that I only needed one pillow and would like my money back. She looked at me strange. She said that they were buy one get one free. Duh. I knew that, but I didn't need two, so just refund my money on this one. She again looked like she had just been given a calculus problem to solve. It seemed simple to me, just refund the money to me. But she tried to tell me that if I only wanted one it was fine, but I wouldn't be getting any money back. Then I realized the problem. I told her that I had kept the free one and put it on my bed already. This pillow was the firs one I had picked out. It was the one I paid for. She insisted that it was the free one I was returning. I know they looked alike, but I was sure I had put the free one on my bed.
Soon a line of people were waiting at the cash register, starting to look impatient. I talked her through how I had the first pillow in the bag and the second pillow was not in a bag, so I know it was the second pillow that I had put on my bad. It was the free pillow. I again stated that I didn't need two pillows and I had just gotten excited about the great deal, but since I am a minimalist, I don't want two.
All this reminds me somehow of Romans 6. I'm sure if I spent longer a it, I could come up with a great sermon analogy, but I will leave that up to you.
P.S. The story is fiction, just in case you really thought I was a moron.
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Slaves to Righteousness
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
When I got home I immediately put my new contour pillows on the bed. And that is when I realized that I didn't need two. One was enough. So what to do with the other one. I decided to take it back to the store and get my money back. That is when the problems began.
I went back to the same cashier who sold me the pillows and told her that I only needed one pillow and would like my money back. She looked at me strange. She said that they were buy one get one free. Duh. I knew that, but I didn't need two, so just refund my money on this one. She again looked like she had just been given a calculus problem to solve. It seemed simple to me, just refund the money to me. But she tried to tell me that if I only wanted one it was fine, but I wouldn't be getting any money back. Then I realized the problem. I told her that I had kept the free one and put it on my bed already. This pillow was the firs one I had picked out. It was the one I paid for. She insisted that it was the free one I was returning. I know they looked alike, but I was sure I had put the free one on my bed.
Soon a line of people were waiting at the cash register, starting to look impatient. I talked her through how I had the first pillow in the bag and the second pillow was not in a bag, so I know it was the second pillow that I had put on my bad. It was the free pillow. I again stated that I didn't need two pillows and I had just gotten excited about the great deal, but since I am a minimalist, I don't want two.
All this reminds me somehow of Romans 6. I'm sure if I spent longer a it, I could come up with a great sermon analogy, but I will leave that up to you.
P.S. The story is fiction, just in case you really thought I was a moron.
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Slaves to Righteousness
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
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