Deal or No Deal

Psalm 119:124 - "Deal with your servant according to your love and teach me your decrees."

A couple weeks ago I was one of 10,000 Minnesotans who braved -2 degree weather to stand in line for auditions for the popular game show Deal or no Deal. I made it two hours. My foray into game show auditioning came on a whim. My wife said, "You should try! You'd probably make it." (I think 9,999 other Minnesotans had similar conversations.) So, I went. I hadn't put on any layers of clothing, and was freezing the entire time. When I finally left the line, I was booed by all of the hearty souls who were continuing to wait in the freezing cold. One in 10,000 odds just weren't enough for me to merit staying out there.

Those who did stay in line were hoping to hear that they had made it. And, they were hoping to some day be standing in front of Howie Mandel, the comedian/host of Deal or no Deal and hear him say, "Deal, or no Deal?"

On the game show, contestants are constantly wondering if they are being offered a good deal or a bad deal. In life, God only offers the best deal. David begged God to deal with him according to His love. God has done that to all of us. Perfect God, gave his Son incarnate to this world. We needed this gift. Apart from Christ we are hell bound. Why? Because we are not good enough to merit God's salvation. He gave us Christ so that we could experince God's love. God has dealt with us according to His love -- His perfect love.

This Christmastime, allow Christ to take over your life. Your life will be eternally better because of it! Don't know how to offer Christ control? Then the prayer below is for you today. Pray this prayer silently and genuinally to Christ today.

Dear God,

I don't deserve Your love. There is nothing about me that deserves to be forgiven. Thank You for dealing with me in Your righteous love before I was ever born. Today, I ask You to forgive me of all of the sin that I've ever committed. Take over my life. I declare to You that Jesus Christ is Lord of my life. I believe that He can forgive me and that I will live forever with Him because Jesus not only died, but rose from the dead for me. Thank You, Jesus, for being the child that was born in the shadow of the cross. Thank You for this time of the year.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.