Almost every day people receive calls from who knows where, wanting to sell them an extended warranty on their car.  I’m wondering if they cover 25 year old cars?  Not everyone drives a new or newer car.  Most of the time, if you do buy the warranty, that’s the last you’ll ever hear from them.  Most of the time the seller is someplace in India, and if you have a claim, well, good luck even finding the warranty company OR the one who sold you the warranty.

The same thing goes with buying things with a lifetime warranty.  Whose lifetime?  Well, most of the time it’s the company’s lifetime, which may only be a few months, they change names in order to not have to honor warranty claims.  There are a few exceptions to that, in that reputable companies do exist, but they are few and far between these days.

Supposed you go to church, and the preacher is trying to get you to bite on the extended warranty offered by the LORD in the form of salvation.  Will God be around to back that warranty?  If you are like most people who have been burned by “extended warranties”, you’ll balk at His promises, because of the nature of people.  It’s only natural to do so.  I’d be wary, too.

But here’s the thing: God is not a man that He should lie. He has been around forever, literally, and He’s not leaving.  But YOU’RE leaving at some point, and that’s why you need that “extended warranty”.  It isn’t your lifetime warranty, it’s GOD’S lifetime, and His is without end.  I don’t need to preach here about the faithfulness of God, it’s in every page of the Bible.  He never leaves or forsakes His own.  The only thing YOU need to be concerned with is this one simple question: Are YOU His own?  You see, that’s the only requirement to be covered by the Ultimate Extended Warranty.  You must completely belong to the LORD, not 50%, not 90%, but 100%.

Belonging to the LORD divides the responsibility for your life.  If you are on your own, then you are on your own, no warranty expressed or implied.  But if you belong to the LORD, then He shares responsibility in your well-being.  Simply put as an example, I liken that to taking care of my pet dog.  My dog has freedom to do as she likes, and she adores me, but I’m responsible to keep her safe, fed, and well taken care of. I do not for a second abscond on my responsibility to her, always watching out for her day and night.  At the slightest whimper, I’m right there to see to her need.  And I’m only a human, and if I go to that much trouble for a dog, think how much more your heavenly Father will care for YOU!

I’m amazed by the amount of love I receive from my dog every day.  I realize, she’s only in MY life for a few years, but I’m her WHOLE life, as long as she lives, and she loves me unconditionally.  How I wish I loved God as perfectly as my dog loves me.  And I wonder if God ever thinks, I wish my children would love me as unconditionally as I love them.

            I for one pray that God would help me to love Him as much as my dog loves me!  If I’m having a bad day, my dog loves on me.  If I’m having a good day, my dog loves on me.  She, to me, is the image of God’s love.  No matter what, her love never changes, even if I get mad and scold her for something, she loves me, and is so quick to offer me forgiveness.

Maybe it’s degrading to God to compare His love to being like that of a dog, but nowhere else on this earth is a better example of God’s love, than that of a dog’s love.  A dog is the only creature who loves you more than it loves itself, and it will willingly, without hesitation, give its life for you to defend you.  That sounds a lot like God to me.  Christ Jesus laid down His own life to give me His life, that is, the Ultimate Extended Warranty, life without end.

I’m not trying to bring God down to a dog’s level. I’m trying to give you an example of the faithfulness of God’s love, in that He created dogs for us to remind us of His unconditional love.  You know, many times I’ve brought trouble and grief upon myself by my own stupid decisions or failure to ask God before I did something.  And yet, since the day I asked Him to be my LORD and SAVIOR, He has bailed me out of so many bad situations, THAT I CAUSED, that I cannot even begin to fathom the depth of His love for me.

It’s one thing for God to help us out of situations beyond our control.  But it’s another thing altogether for Him to help us out of situations we got ourselves into by our own stupidity.  That’s like a good shepherd getting his sheep out of a briar bush that the sheep got itself into all by itself.  We are quick to blame our troubles on the devil, when most of the time, WE ARE TO BLAME.  And yet….God is faithful to His children to reach into our troubles and deliver us.  Why?  Because He is God, and I’m so thankful His ways are so much higher than our ways.

We tend to love God as long as things are going our way, when the rent is paid, the cupboard is full, there’s money in the bank, and we’re well.  But that isn’t how He loves us.  He loves us when we’re snot-nosed whiny brats, when in reality we need to be turned over his knee and spanked unmercifully.  He loves us even when we accuse Him of not loving us because we’re not getting our way.  He provides for us, though we’ve done nothing to deserve even the smallest of His mercies.  He watches over us day and night, tenderly loving us, even when we aren’t returning that same kind of love and devotion to Him.

And through it all, after we’ve signed up for His Ultimate Extended Warranty, He is there forever to enforce that warranty.  We never have to worry about finding that elusive hidden agent somewhere in India when we need help.  Our LORD and SAVIOR is only a prayer away, and you’ll never get a busy signal or an answering machine.  He is always RIGHT THERE ON THE SPOT TO HELP HIS KIDS!

So today, if you don’t know CHRIST JESUS OF NAZARETH as YOUR Lord and Savior, let me leave you with this promise of God from Romans 10:8-15,

 8  But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

 9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

 10  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

 11  For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

 12  For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

 13  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

 14  How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

 15  And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

            So you know what to do!  Call upon the name of the LORD and be saved!  Get in on the Ultimate Extended Warranty while you can!  I’m His “salesman”, proclaiming His goodness. Do it now.  You’ll thank me 10,000 years from now.