paid

The following true story comes from Christian Reader magazine:

When I was a child, our church celebrated the Lord's Supper every first Sunday of the month. At that service, the offering plates were passed twice: before the sermon for regular offerings, and just prior to Communion for benevolences. My family always gave to both, but they passed a dime to me only to put in the regular offering.

One Communion Sunday when I was nine, my mother, for the first time, gave me a dime for the benevolent offering also. A little later when the folks in our pew rose to go to the Communion rail, I got up also. "You can't take Communion yet," Mother told me.

"Why not?" I said. "I paid for it!"

--Paul Francisco, Rockford, IL, Christian Reader, "Lite Fare."

Looking at it through the eyes of a child's, it's easy to see how Paul could have made the mistake of thinking that Communion is something we pay for the privilege of partaking. But, the truth is, we don't pay for it. In fact, if we had all the money in the world, we could never pay for it. But, by the grace of God, Jesus did "pay for it" with His own blood, and bids us remember his sacrifice through the emblems of the unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine.

"For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes." (I Cor. 11:23-26)

Next time, as you partake of the Lord's Supper, I hope you will remember the one who paid the price for your sins.

-adapted from alan smith