Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
Hebrews 9:27
Once upon a time, retail stores offered layaway plans. Mostly aimed to help the poor, this let customers make a downpayment on something they couldn’t pay for all at once. Over time, the customer pays small amounts for the remaining balance. After making the final payment, the customer was given the item.
Layaway plans are a lot more work for the store. But the up side for the store was that it let more people buy bigger and more expensive items. Once the downpayment was made, the store had to tag and move the item, putting it somewhere until the final payment came in. They also had to keep track of all the payments and how much was left to pay. Once the last payment came in, they had to find the item and move it for the customer to pick it up.
I remember my parents’ buying things on layaway plans. Big purchases like furniture and TV sets. They had a little book for each item, carefully recording each payment that they made to the store.
Eventually, with credit cards becoming more and more popular, it became easier and more profitable for stores to forget the layaway plan. Credit cards let retailers get most of their money upfront for a small fee. In exchange, they could set aside the headache and additional costs. But layaway plans did make a brief comeback, only to be replaced with instant financing that the customer can apply for while checking out.
When I was given responsibility for my parents’ finances, they gave me a whole lot of papers and folders. They were in a jumbled pile with no order that I could make heads or tails of. As you can imagine, it took me a lot of time to sort through all this stuff.
As I dug my way through this paper mountain, I found a little red layaway book that my Polish grandmother used. I have no idea why they saved it, but I’m very glad they did. There her $1.51 monthly payments in the early 1950’s were recorded for a long, long, long time.
Yes, there have been lots of different layaway plans. Once upon a time, they made sense for everyone. But they’ve seen their day and now they’re on the trash pile of time. Never to come back again. Or are they?
Have you ever used a layaway plan? Where you paid a little bit at a time in order to get something in the future? And don’t forget, with a layaway plan, you don’t actually get the thing when you start paying. You keep up the small payments for a long time but you haven’t received the thing you want.
Today, we use credit cards where someone else give the company all the money and then we spread out the payment to the credit card company. Or we take out a loan and then we immediately get the house or car. Over time, we pay back the loan through monthly payment. But in both cases, we immediately get the thing we want.
The writer is telling these poor Hebrews that are going through terrible persecution and suffering two important truths. Comforting truths that not only gives strength to go through all the pain and agony of this life, but also gives great hope for the future.
God’s Layaway Plan. Yes, God has a layaway plan. There, I said it. Bet you’ve never thought about life this way before. I know that I never did. Even though I’ve read and reread this verse over the years I’ve never seen it. I’ve said these words from memory for so many years, but I never thought of it like as God’s layaway plan.So, you’re asking yourself how this is God’s layaway plan. Well, it’s really pretty simple. People, that includes you and me, are destined to die once and only once. None of this needing to live over and over again till we get it right. No thousands of reincarnations to earn entrance into eternity.
It’s a Promise. I know that the death of a loved one is painful. There’s still an emptiness in my heart from burying both my mom and dad. Without this promise, we wouldn’t have hope. Hope that their pain is over. Hope that they’ve gone to a better place. Hope that this life isn’t for nothing.Looking back at my life, I’ve known these words for a long time. I even memorized them and told them to people over and over. But thinking about this as a promise is sort of new to me. I think it’s probably new to you too. It sort of strange sounding. It was true back then and it’s equally true right now.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
Revelation 21:4
I can’t speak for you, but this sure sounds like a blessing and a promise to me. Not having to go through this life again with all its pain and sorrows. No more disappointments. No more emptiness. No more fighting. No more losing. No more disgrace. No more sin. No more shame. This was a message of hope for the Hebrews of long ago, and it’s a promise of hope for you and me.
Noodling Questions
Describe your experience with buying something over time.
How are God’s layaway plan and promise so comforting?
Describe how this makes life bearable.
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