I did two things this past week that shocked me. I filled my small car with gas and then bought groceries. Inflation is shocking. I paid more this week for gas and more this week for groceries and got the same amounts of both as I did just a little while ago.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in March 2022 inflation hit 8.5 percent. Annual inflation is the highest since December 1981. Everyone is talking about it; everyone is trying to figure out what is causing it and what to do about it. Almost every news report devotes time to it.
So, on my walk last week, while still a bit stunned by my recent purchases, God dropped a song – and a thought – into my mind and heart. I began to sing the first verse from the song, “Thank You for the Cross, LORD.”
“Thank You for The Cross, Lord, Thank You for The Price You Paid. Bearing All My Sin and Shame, In Love You Came
and Gave Amazing Grace.”
As I sang, I thought about what Peter said about the price Christ Jesus paid. “For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from the fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.” [1 Peter 1:18-19 HCSB]
Gas, groceries, rent, heating fuel, clothes, homes, cars and just about every commodity is subject to inflation – even when we cannot identify the source(s).
But the greatest of all things – salvation – was paid for once and for all by the most glorious sacrifice given, the precious blood of God’s Son, Christ Jesus our LORD. The price never changes, there is no inflation that can affect it. It has been paid for all eternity.
“Thank you for the cross, LORD, thank you for the price (Your most precious blood) You paid, bearing all my sin and shame.”
