By Pastor Bill Hayden

Growing up in the 50’s many merchants would offer to their customers a Lay-a-way plan to purchase items that they didn’t have cash on hand to buy. A customer could buy an item on an installment plan and pay off interest-free over time, until the item was fully paid.

Today, companies offer a Buy-now and pay-later or an Easy-pay plan where payments are divided over time, while you receive the product. These programs will have terms and conditions which require you to read the fine print because you could get some unwanted surprises.

God created mankind for eternity but we chose a lesser life span in selecting the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden. It was a beautiful tree but its fruit produced death… corrupting the entire natural world, including human nature. The only way for man to attain eternal life was by forgiveness through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT “Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” Though many chose not to live with an eternal perceptive of life, God’s love for us is eternal and He established a Lay-a-way plan for us by sending His Son, Jesus Christ.

John 14:2-3 NKJV 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I will go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 1 John 5:15 NKJV He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Many of us are stuck in life by a here and now philosophy with no thought of God having numbered our days on this earth. I find it interesting that some people will religiously refuse to have a relationship with God but devote themselves religiously to temporal things.

This Easter Sunday we will celebrate the Lord’s victory over our greatest fears… Death, Hell and the Grave. His resurrection from the dead assures us that believing in Him guarantees our place He prepared for us. It is wonderful to live knowing that whatever happens… Heaven is waiting and your lay-a-way has been paid off.

If you need friendship, you can find it in our Chapel. Please join us at the Villages Community Chapel in the Cribari Auditorium, every Sunday at 10 a.m. to be encouraged over the Word and enjoy a cup of coffee and cookies with friends. The chapel is a place for needs to be met, faith to be affirmed and new friends to embrace. You can view our worship services on YouTube at Villages Community Chapel San Jose, CA.