Emily Ortiz has a new heart. The headline in the paper told the whole story:
WOMAN WHO COULDN'T PAY
GETS NEW HEART ANYWAY!
Emily was not insured for a heart transplant, and the $150,000 cost of the operation was far beyond her means. Family and friends were frantically trying to raise money to pay for the operation, but life was slipping away. It began to seem hopeless.
Then the hospital received a donor heart that seemed a good match for her, and Emily was wheeled into the operating room, "just in time" her husband said, and her life was saved by the new heart.
Hospitals are expensive. Years of training for doctors, nurses, and technicians, costly equipment, and expensive drugs, all add up. No matter how generous and altruistic the doctors and hospital may be, the price must be paid.
For Emily, who could not pay, the bills are being paid by others. Every kind of fund-raiser is being used, and many contributions have been made. The price is high, but it will have to be paid.
For all of us, too, there was a price to be paid. We, too, had bad hearts. We, too, needed new hearts and a new life. And we, too, had nothing with which to pay. Just like Emily, we could not pay.
But Jesus could. Jesus did. He came to earth for that very purpose: to die for us, that we might have a new life, a God-given life, a life that will live forever in God's house in heaven. "When we were yet without strength... Christ died for the ungodly." Rom. 5:6. He has paid all the price—that terrible price of death on the cross—and now all that we have to do is to receive it. "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23.