Ephesians 1:3-11

Unclaimed Insurance

To most people, the great depression of the 30s has been forgotten in the wave of prosperity that followed. Out of those hard times, however, came a story which has a strange ending yet teaches us a powerful lesson.

When a timid old lady approached the first desk she saw in an insurance office in Minneapolis, she was asked what she wanted. With trembling hand, she took from her well-worn purse an old policy and explained regretfully that she was unable to meet the current premium. She explained that it was hard for her to get work and what little she did get was hardly enough to clothe, feed her and keep a roof over her head.

After quick investigation, the clerk recognized that the policy was very valuable. He warned the old lady that she was making an unwise move to stop payment. Did not her husband have anything to say? It was his policy made out to her benefit, he explained. “My husband? Oh, he has been dead for three years,” she remarked sadly.

Immediately the company officials went into action. They soon discovered that she was indeed telling the truth. What she didn’t understand was that the policy was her husband’s and that she was the beneficiary at his death. They were thus obligated to refund the overpaid premiums plus the full amount for which the husband had insured his life in her favor. The money was sufficient to keep her in comfort the rest of her life.

Listen: The greatest life insurance policy of all time became due when Jesus Christ died on the cross! Thousands of people continue trying to make payments on their own salvation while all they need to do is accept the immeasurable gift that is theirs through the death and resurrection of our Savior.

To become the beneficiary of God’s Life Insurance Policy, we need simply to acknowledge our need as sinners and thank Him for the gift of His only begotten Son who died on the Cross and rose again (II Cor. 9:15) that we might have God’s forgiveness.

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