MY REDEMPTION WAS ACHIEVED THROUGH OUTSOURCING

Some thirty years ago, or more, I read a short article in a British newspaper while in the UK on business.


A man entered a high-street jewelers with the intent of buying his daughter an Easter present. He asked the clerk what he might deem appropriate, thinking a simple trinket with a bunny might serve the purpose. The attendant immediately brought out a tray displaying small crosses, some in gold, others in silver and still more with diamonds or other precious stones.

After carefully examining the dozens of crosses on offer the man asked, “Is there a great difference in the price of the empty crosses compared to those with a little man on them”?

Perhaps it was not a very significant price difference to the shop’s customer but then he doesn’t, unlike you and I, need to think beyond the ‘cost’, to the ‘loss’ represented by that little man.

From my lecture notes, from the period while teaching international marketing in MBA courses in the USA; “In purchasing a product, technically, there is no loss involved; simply an exchange, at an agreed upon price: a fair and free exchange. The price (in money plus urgency) is equal to the product value at the moment of the trade.”

During my research into global exchange and outsourcing I, with a noted professor from a Midwest university, developed exchange theories based on ‘services’, i.e. not 'products', but on a service that's provided, and there the fairness doctrine can easily be confused or even lost. When one buys a product, technically there is no loss involved nor is one’s attitude involved if the exchange is considered fair.

The value of a service however, is not always immediately recognized or appreciated; the appreciation of its value might be immediate (an airline journey) or may require a lengthy wait (life insurance). And the ROI (return on investment) on a service is often questioned (auto repair or the hair dresser’s proficiency).

Offered as it was, a service to satisfy the forgiveness of our sin, Christ's death, was the most expensive and costly exchange transaction in the history of the universe. It was not simply  "priceless," it was infinitely costly. There was a "price" to be paid for sin and Christ was made the recipient of those wages, the 'outsourced' exchange.

Do we gain an insight by separating the concept of "loss" from "cost." God lost nothing when Christ died. But it certainly cost something, in the sense of an exchange.

Christ's substitutionary death (outsourced service) on the cross stands at the heart of all Salvation Army truths as revealed in the Bible. ‘He took my place, His life He freely gave.’ He took our place in suffering the penalty for sin and it was fully satisfied by His voluntary acceptance of our punishment. He could have saved Himself from the pain of the thorns and the nails, but instead He "humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

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George Bennard joined the Salvation Army in Lucas, Iowa where he initially served alone and then, after his marriage, with his wife. Both Bennard and his wife served as officers until he felt the call to move on into a different area of ministry. He became a traveling evangelist and as such conducted revival campaigns in Canada and in the northern and central United States.

One time, after an especially difficult experience in a New York campaign, Bennard returned to one of his earliest appointments in Michigan. There he reflected on the meaning of the cross in the life of a believer from Galatians 6:14 in which the Apostle Paul states: "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."  Meditating on the words, "the old rugged cross," the notes of a melody ran through his head and they were quickly written down.

Then he spent several weeks struggling to compose words to fit the tune. ‘Finally, after a period of prayer, the poetry of the verses began to flow from his pen almost unbidden.’ After completing the four verses he took them to his friends, and sang if for them. He concluded his presentation with the question, "Will it do?"

"The Old Rugged Cross" was published in 1915, and all expenses paid by the Reverend and Mrs. L.O. Bostwick. In 1958, at the age of eighty-five, Bennard "exchanged his cross for a crown. 

Oh, that old rugged cross so despised by the world


Has a wondrous attraction for me;


For the dear Lamb of God left his glory above,


To bear it to dark Calvary.

For 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,


To pardon and sanctify me.

So I'll cherish the rugged cross,


Till my trophies at last I lay down'


I will cling to the old rugged cross,


And exchange it some day for a crown.


Sven Ljungholm