A couple of days ago I opened a drawer and found this piece of paper. I remember that day very well. I had come out of a coma provoked by cardiac arrest, I came home healthy and strong -praise God!- just to know that the price of a day in the neurocritical care unit was around “$100,000” and yes, at the time I was uninsured. We were not counting the doctors and other providers’ bills. The total was approximately 1 million dollars. Yes, one million.
Someone at the hospital told my wife to apply to get some assistance from the government which is available only in life-and-death circumstances. (Here in the United States we don’t have a “public” or “social healthcare system”. Everything is private.) I put my faith in practice: “Yes, Lord, there is nothing impossible for you. Get me out of this debt that I didn’t cause. In Jesus’ name. Amen.” A couple of months after I came home, the government sent us a letter denying my request.
My faith fell discouraged. That afternoon, I climbed in the car and drove away to the country, outside the city. I stopped on a gravel road, alone and screamed as loud as I could and asked what perhaps we shouldn’t ask God: “Why?” I felt upset, afraid. In my mind all our savings would be taken away, what we had for a house, vacations, our future would go with creditors.
We started to negotiate with the doctors. God is our witness how some of them reduced their bills, making them able to be paid. Most expenses were covered with the help of donors, friends, family and other anonymous givers. But we still had the hospital bill, over $900,000. We sent them a letter which basically said: “Please, don’t send my account to collections. I won’t file for bankruptcy either, I will pay you for everything. Just be patient.” (Kind of like the servant who owed 100 thousand talents of gold in the parable.)
Few days later I received another envelope from the hospital. I thought it was their invoice, just to make sure that my debt was still there, but no, it was a letter that said: “Mr. Pinedo, through this letter we want to let you know that a write off has been applied to your account. Please, consider it closed. Thank you for trusting in us for your medical care. Wesley Medical Center.” God erased a million dollars in the “blink of an eye.” I was free.
Now, with that in mind, let’s think about this: how much heavier is the debt of our soul? King David tells us “For the redemption of his soul is costly, and he should cease trying forever” (Psalm 49:8). No matter what we do, our debt is huge. Impossible to pay. We should “cease” in our trials to pay it by our human means. The debt of our sins against God cannot be paid by good works, or by keeping the law, or by trying to live “like a good person”, or even by attending church every Sunday.
This debt of our sins demanded to be paid with a life, “for the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love, gave us an exit, placing on Christ all our debts, which He paid for with his life. His last words at the cross “it is finished” come from the Greek term “tetelestai,” a term used in ancient accountability to say “debt paid” (literally “I pay”). Today, this forgiveness comes “paid” by Him and it is given to those who have faith in Jesus Christ, in His blood and His work of salvation.
It is free. It is by grace. But we have to believe it and come to Him “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
The Day of Grace is today. Come.
Ricardo Pinedo – MasterLife Ministries
