Have you ever traded foreign currency? My husband used to work as a foreign currency trader for a large bank in the southeast. Every day he would trade thousands of dollars of one type of currency for another for a fee. It’s really like swapping but there is a cost involved. Nothing is for free. Someone somewhere always pays a price for whatever you get.
I was reading in the book of Isaiah about the trades God offers us. In Isaiah 61, the Lord offers the following: freedom instead of captivity, comfort instead of mourning, beauty instead of ashes, gladness instead of mourning, praise instead of despair, restoration instead of ruins, a double portion instead of shame, and inheritance instead of disgrace. Those sound like great trades that weigh heavily in our favor. I don’t know anyone who would rather have ashes instead of beauty or ruins instead of restoration. However, there is a cost. All of this isn’t for free. Someone has to pay the price.
Jesus paid the price [1 John 3:16]. He paid the debt in full for us so we could make these trades and everything else necessary for us to have abundant life [John 10:10].
Oh, how we serve an amazing God who loves us beyond measure. He finds us worthy enough to lay down His life for us to have relationship with Him. What are you willing to do for Him today? Do you have anything you are willing to sacrifice, to trade, in honor of Him? Take some time today and ask Him if there is anything in your life that needs to be traded for something better. You’ll never find another who will make you a better offer.