The plan for redeeming people from the mess they are in is simple.  And like I said yesterday, "It's free."  The neat part is that it is in your own best interest.  Since God made you, He knows what will be best for you in the long run.  Problem is, most of his creation lives in the short term.  Doing what's fun this moment.  I always like to tell what one of my co-workers used to say to the juniors and seniors that we taught in their class at our church:

"Sin is fun.  If it wasn't, It wouldn't be any temptation at all.  But it is only fun in the moment.  There is a price to pay for it that Satan doesn't want you to know about.  That price has to be paid."  And will be paid in full--by you--later.  It is eternal death."

There is a verse in Scripture that we all know:  "For the wages of sin is death..."  The people that received that message from Paul knew exactly what he meant.  But we have lost something in the translation of the word "wage."

A wage was a piece of paper given to the Roman soldier.  It was worthless out in the field.  It could only be "redeemed" in Rome.  There, when the soldier returned home, he could submit his "wage" paper and turn it into money--issued by the Roman government.  The "wage" would then paid to him.  It was always paid later, after he returned to Rome--not while he was in another country.  So when Paul said that "the wages of sin is death," he was saying, in his letter to the Romans, that there would be a payday for their indulgences--someday.  And that the wage (payment) for sin was death.

Sin destroys us.  From the inside out.  I'm not just talking about theft, adultery, murder, etc.  All of those things you have done--that ultimately hurt yourself and others--will destroy what God wants you to be.  Those sins, disobedience to God, will always have to be paid for.

So, for whatever you have done, there is a wage that will be paid.  But Jesus has redeemed your wage.  He made a choice and died for your sin.  I have no idea why.  We are worthless.  But God loved us, saw what we could be if He lived inside us.  So that someday, when we turn our "wage paper" at his throne, he will redeem it with eternal life.  I have said before:  "What a deal."  Just for believing in Him and giving him your life, you get a wage that is absolutely priceless.