TERMS & CONDITIONS

In the last few years the Internet has become an integral part of our everyday lives. We use it to communicate with loved ones, share pictures and daily activities on social networks, learn what is happening in every country of the world, purchase new toys and sell the old ones. If you have ever entered a contest, down loaded software, or enrolled in an online group, you will notice that before the transaction is completed a small box must be checked. It is the “Terms & Conditions” box. By checking the box you are promising that you accept and abide by whatever rules the creator has set up in connection with this event. I have checked many little boxes but I have to admit, other than a cursory scan, I have never read a detailed Terms & Conditions page. THAT IS GOING TO CHANGE!!! After reading the following article, I have decided to throw my checkmarks around with a little less nonchalance.

Fox News reported that 7,500 online shoppers unknowingly sold their souls when they purchased a computer game from a British company. The “Terms & Conditions” included this clause, “By placing an order via this Web site on the first day of the fourth month of the year 2010 Anno Domini, you agree to grant Us a non transferable option to claim, for now and forever more, your immortal soul. Should We wish to exercise this option, you agree to surrender your immortal soul, and any claim you may have on it, within 5 (five) working days of receiving written notification from gamesation.co.uk or one of its duly authorized minions." A joke? Probably! Enforceable? Probably not!! The lesson to be learned, however, is make sure you know the Terms & Conditions before completing the transaction.

God promised Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation. The Terms & Conditions to receive the promise were that Abraham had to leave his country and loved ones, follow God to an unknown land, face unforeseen obstacles and finally in his old age, experience the birth of the one son who was the start of the “great nation.” Joseph dreamed of his destiny but not the Terms & Conditions. How could he know that before his brothers would bow down to him, he would be sold into slavery, falsely accused, put in prison, forgotten about for a few years and finally brought before Pharaoh? Did the disciples understand the Terms & Conditions when Jesus asked them to put down their nets and other tools of the trade to follow Him? What about you, have you read the Terms & Conditions to inherit eternal life?

John 14 1-3 says, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” What an exciting promise; Jesus left to prepare a place for me and when it is ready; He will return and take me there. But what about the Terms & Conditions? Am I willing to check the box and hit enter?

When the crowd asked, Peter in Acts 2, “What must we do to be saved,” Peter declared the Terms & Conditions as they were given to him. Acts 2:38, Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Is that it? Just do what Peter says and I can get my place in a mansion for eternity? No, that’s just one of the Terms & Conditions. We find another in Matthew 24:13, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” For the complete list of Terms and Conditions read a book called The Bible. If you can agree to all it contains then you are ready to check the little box and hit enter. You have now sold not only your soul but your life to a loving Savior who purchased you with His own blood. Everything He has is yours including eternal life.