"THE BARGAIN HUNTERS"
by
Rene Phillips Qualls

My husband, Eddie, was a bargain hunter.  He enjoyed going to auctions in Tennessee.  There he would carefully look over the goods on display, and would pick up antiques, tools, or boxes of books, for a few dollars.  I would tease him about his habit of driving miles out of his way, to save a few cents on spiral notebooks!  He looked forward to Wednesdays, when McDonald's had 39¢ cheeseburgers.  Eddie always knew what was going on sale, and where the sale would be.  He really liked the "98¢ Store!"  Eddie loved "a deal."

Satan has a "discount store."  He does a very good business, because he knows that everyone likes a bargain.  Satan sells Sin, and he marks everything down.  You can find anything, at bargain basement prices!  There are some sins that you wouldn't buy, at any price.  If you shop long enough, though, you will find something that you feel you can afford.  After all, you are a bargain hunter, and won't pass up a deal!  Of course, all sins are "open stock."

But, can you really afford the price Satan asks?  What is the price he's asking?  It's nothing much, really.  The cost to you is your soul.  That is the only price for anything in his store.  For some people, paying with their souls for Fornication is a deal, while the price for Drunkenness is too high.  Some Drunkenness bargain hunters would never buy Stealing.  There are those Stealing buyers who pass on the Sabbath Breaking.  It's not cheap enough for them.  Satan has something for everyone!  His advertisements are great!  He wants your business, and continually parades his merchandise in front of you, playing on your emotions, your needs.  He guarantees instant gratification, if you pay the "low, low price."  Satan has devalued your soul, making it worth less to you.  That makes it easier for you to give it up, so you can purchase the sin of your choice.  The bargain sin.  Satan is lying to you.

What is your soul worth?  Christ, our Savior, thought that our souls were very valuable.  So much so, He was willing to pay the highest price for them.  Our souls were not on sale, but they were damaged goods.  And, blood was the high price they carried.  The blood of Jesus covered our sins, and it purchased us.  “And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation"  (Revelation 5:9).  We belong to God.

So, what do we do?  We stop buying into Satan's lies.  We stop looking for bargain sin.  We take back our souls.  We return to God.  "For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls" (I Peter 2:25).  We live in the light of God.  "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin" (I John 1:6-7).  And, we must never lessen the value of the blood of Christ, by being Bargain Hunters of sin.

Copyright © 2001 by René Phillips Qualls (Used by permission.)