Are you sitting in a pawn shop right now, and don't even know it?  You've already been redeemed, but many people don't accept the redemption.

You know how a pawn shop works, right?  In case you don't, it goes like this:  Someone decides they need cash more than a particular item, so they take that item to the pawn shop and give it to the pawnbroker in exchange for cash - usually the amount of cash the pawnbroker gives is much less than what the item is worth to you.  The pawnbroker holds the item for a period of time, during which the person can come back and pay back the cash, along with fees and interest and redeem (get back) their item.  If they don't return to redeem the item in time, the pawnbroker then sells the item.

From the time we are born we begin to pawn our lives in satan's pawn shop, little by little.  We hand over our lives a little at a time in exchange for what we want.  We mount up such a debt that it becomes an endless cycle and there's no way that WE can redeem ourselves.  There sits our life, on a shelf in satan's pawn shop.

Now, here's the kicker: while it's true that WE cannot redeem ourselves, Jesus already has.  He has paid the price of redemption for every life that sits in satan's pawn shop.  All we have to do is receive that redemption and reclaim our lives. 

But satan isn't going to call you or send you a little note telling you that your debt is paid and you can reclaim your life.  He's hoping you never figure that out.  In fact, he's doing everything he can to prevent you from ever realizing that Jesus already redeemed you.  Satan is a very dishonest merchant and if you do business with him - you will get burned (literally.)

Have you received the redemption of Jesus?  Have you accepted the salvation that is available as a gift to you by grace, through faith? 

This is urgent.  In the pawn shop, if you don't pay the pawnbroker and retrieve your item in a certain period of time, the item becomes the property of the pawnbroker.  Jesus already paid the pawnbroker for you, now you just have to get yourself out of there before it's too late.  If you're life is still sitting on the shelf when your time on earth is up (which could be any minute) the pawnbroker (satan) will take you to his home.