The Lost Sheep

There’s a store. 

The Sin Shop.

Going in is optional, nobody can force you but let’s face it, it looks kind of popular. Everyone goes. Your friends, family, celebrities, strangers. If you don’t go you are the odd one out, you are the strange one and being strange isn’t cool. It feels isolating at times. Some mock you, others look with disdain, some encourage you but they are still in that shop the next day. So of course you go in. You’re curious. You check the ware and some of it looks dangerous but some of it looks fun. A little sip, a light puff, maybe some attention spared elsewhere… oh and there’s the person you like… the one that called you a prude. Maybe you could pick up some new fashion, a new diet, some fun slang. Your basket isn’t full but then again it’s your first time. You picked only a few to test, some you’ve seen your friends use or your family.

You get to the register and the cashier is smiling, they ring up everything and you feel good. You feel like you finally belong…

“And your total comes to….” The cashier taps the screen and you see the total in complete shock, 

“Death” she smiles unbreakingly.

“Huh?” You’re baffled, confused, what is going on? “Death?”

But the smile is still bright and unchanging, “Yes your total is death”

“That’s… that can’t be… I mean i didn’t even get anything bad”

The cashier’s smile finally drops and she almost looks concerned for you, “Oh dear, don’t worry we don’t always ask for immediate payment. But the price is of course still the same” she ends smiling again.

“What?”

Beside you there is an uproar. A man slams his fist on another counter, “What do you mean my price is the same as his?!!” He screams and you look in the yelling man’s basket there are indeed only a few things the affair seems the most damning but compared to the man next to him who has murder, assault, theft it seems almost inconsequential. But the male cashier in front of him has a well practiced smile, 

“I’m sorry sir but as stated all sin is set at a fixed price. Whether he has more or less doesn’t matter”

The man is fuming and for a second you think that another item was slipped into his basket; Wrath. The cashier that was working with you catches your gaze and you almost jump but all she does is raise a finger to her grinning lips as if telling you to keep the secret.

“Do you have any idea who I am!!? I am a man of God! Do you think you could even have this shop if I said something!?” He shrieks and screams like a squealing pig and you have to look away. 

“Customer?” You look up to the cashier in front of you who is looking at you with eyes soft, “I understand death might seem scary but if you think about it, everyone dies. It’s really not too much. You practically get all this stuff for free and get to live your life however you want, doing whatever you want. You can do whatever feels right to you”

It sounds nice but strange, much different from outside the shop. Much different than the shop across the street. 

It’s like she reads your uncertainty, like she knows every twitch and flicker and can interpret it to perfection. Like she’s studied every customer for years and knows exactly what goes through their mind. 

“Are you worried about the other shop?” she questions then scoffs as if just talking about it is a bore, “How boring is that place. And look how many rules they say you have to follow in order to stay there?”

You flinch because you had been to that shop, you had seen the rules but… “Well…. It’s not rules per say… it’s more like beliefs that everyone follows and agrees to and–”

“And?” she cuts you off mockingly, “They’re ridiculous. So what if you lie a little? And are you saying it’s really that bad to go to work on the sabbath? Look i get it,” her voice is soothing and gentle “It looks nice but let’s be honest.. .nice doesn’t mean fun” She smiles, “This is fun”

She looks at your basket, “And look you don’t even have bad things. So enjoy life while you’re living, break the chains”

Live life…

“Live life and be happy” She smiles brightly then she holds out a table for consent with a large green button, “It’s death but i mean… is it really?” she laughs. You look around, repeat customers, a peer you know, they must have signed it, and they weren’t dead right?

“Okay”

And you push the button.

(Romans 6:23)For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[b] Christ Jesus our Lord.