Warranties and I don’t co-exist well. The handle on my dishwasher broke three weeks after the contract expired. If my vacuum cleaner had clogged ten days sooner, I wouldn’t have had to pay for a repair. No matter what the item, if some part fails, I’m left with the responsibility of fixing it.
Which explains why I didn’t think much about it when the pair of rollerblades I bought for my son’s birthday last year came with a warranty book. He’s a grown man, skates in a rink, and the last pair of skates I’d purchased for him was in eighth grade. The only reason those skates were passed on to his sister was because his feet got too big. So a six-month warranty seemed a waste.
But five months and two weeks later, a bolt popped on the skate, loosening the shoe strap, leaving the skate unsafe. I dug out the warranty and the receipt and returned the skates to the store. Within ten minutes, I had another pair, no questions asked, and was on my way. This new pair also came with a warranty book, but considering past histories I doubted the skates would fail. The first pair’s demise probably suggested a fluke, not an everyday occurrence.
But another five months and two weeks later, the second pair blew a wheel. I retrieved the warranty book, handed it, along with the receipt, to my son, and sent him to the store. I told him I doubted they’d replace another pair of skates, but it was worth a try. To my surprise, he returned not long afterward, new skates in hand. But this pair didn’t come with a warranty book.
God offers us an even better warranty Book, his word, the Bible. Acts 16:31 says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” Not just for a day or for six months, but forever.
And if we fail? I John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
We can’t be let go, even if we fail again and again, like a broken pair of skates. In John 6:37 Jesus tells us “All (people) that the Father gives me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.”
John 10:27: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone pluck them out of my hand.”
That’s a warranty I intend to redeem.