What's my bargaining position?

Sometimes when I visit my grandmother’s nursing home, she’ll be in a group of seniors listening to a pastor explain the Gospel. Since my grandmother is a lifelong Christian, I’m not worried about her.

But in thinking what it might be like for the others, I imagine they might struggle with comprehending the offer of a free pass after such a long, sinful life just because they’re suddenly afraid of getting what they deserve in hell. “Why would God want me so late in life when I have nothing left to offer him?” The funny thing about such normal questions is how frequently they betray basic misunderstandings of the Gospel.

See, the 80-year-old who asks God’s forgiveness with nothing to offer Him isn’t in any substantially different position than the 20-year-old who does so. Neither of them have anything to offer in their bargain with God. And the only thing that prevents any of us from coming to God is the persistent mistake of thinking that we do.

In a very real sense, we are all deathbed conversions. And until we are, we aren’t really conversions at all.