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Religion: New beginnings

In this week's religion column, Garry Ford was  looking out at a winter wonderland.
plow

The big snowfall on the weekend left us completely stranded on Sunday morning. On my own, I couldn’t begin to move the foot or more of snow on my driveway, nor the three feet of snow that the plows had left across the mouth of my driveway. I texted my pastor that I might not make it to church. (That would have left me in good company, as it turned out. Many people didn’t manage to conquer the snow).

While I was wondering about what I would do with my day, there was a sudden rumbling sound out in front of the house. I looked out the window and there was my next-door neighbour with a huge all-terrain vehicle and a plow attached. We have a long sidewalk since we are on a corner lot and a large two-car driveway. In just about 15 minutes, he had cleared the snow on both the sidewalk and the driveway.

As I was considering what to share with you today, it occurred to me that this was an excellent example of what God did for us when He sent His Son to die for us at Calvary.

Here’s what happened: After Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, God said that the penalty for sin would be death, physical death eventually and spiritual death eternally. Since we all sin, we all deserved to face this penalty. But God loves us and really wanted us to spend eternity with Him. As a result, He arranged to pay the penalty Himself. He sent the only one in all of Heaven who could pay the price for us because He was sinless. He sent Jesus to die to pay the price for us that we could not pay for ourselves. As a result, when we turn to Christ and ask Him, by faith, to be our Saviour (substitute) He does for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

There are many people in Thorold who have already claimed Him as their Saviour. There is still time. The Bible says that today is the day of salvation. Why not open your heart and let Him do for you what you can’t do for yourself? The Bible says, “By grace (God’s unmerited gift) you have been saved, not of yourself, not of works, so that nobody can boast (that they had achieved Heaven on their own). If you would like more information about how to do this, contact us at the church [email protected]. One of us would be pleased to share with you what the Bible says so you, too, can take advantage of God’s offer of eternal life.