For many children, going to the library is an outing they look forward to. Reading is one way to take a trip to a far-off land or to a time long ago.
My children love to bring home books about animals from the library. Once they checked out a book of true bear stories. Those stories were scary! Our next hike in the mountains in bear country was a real adventure.
At our library, we can check out books for two weeks. However, they are not marked “overdue” until after three weeks. The librarians call that third week a “grace period.” They give everyone an extra week to return their borrowed books, but if we don’t return them after three weeks, we must pay a fine.
At our house, we sometimes misplace a book and must pay the fine of $1.00 when we return the book after the third week. Once we lost a small book. We had to pay for the book — a fine of $10.00. We knew the fine was fair since the book was not ours, and we had lost it.
Did you know that the best Book of all tells us about a “grace period”? The Bible teaches us that we are living right now in the day of grace. That is, we live in a time when all who will receive free favor from God may have it. This day-of-grace period will not last forever. It has already lasted around 2000 years, but it could end today!
God has given us this “grace period” because He wants us to be saved from our sins before it is too late, or we will have to pay a terrible fine. This verse tells us what the fine is: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)). The Bible tells us we have all sinned, and God must punish sin. But it also tells us that God loved us so much that He provided a substitute to pay our fine and die for us. That substitute was His very own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. If we believe He died for our sins, we will be saved from the punishment we deserve and go to live with the Lord Jesus in heaven when we leave this earth, rather than paying that awful fine in hell.
Next time you visit your library and the librarian tells you when your books are due, remember, God’s “due date” will be here very soon.
Messages of God’s Love 9/14/2025