I was having lunch with three friends, the other day.  We were at a nice restaurant, and the food is good.  Well, we all ordered, the food came, and we were enjoying our selection, or so we thought.  We noticed Cathy had stopped eating, but she never said a word.  So, after awhile we asked for to go containers.  Cathy boxed her meal up, the server asked how we enjoyed our meal and Cathy voiced her displeasure with her order. She was ready to take the food home and pay the bill, even though she was unhappy with the food.  The server sent the manager over.  After talking with Cathy, she decided to comp the portion of the meal that she did not like and replaced a part of the meal without charge. 

As we continued to talk, I mentioned the need to write my blog for this week.  It was said maybe I can write about what just happened with Cathy.  So, I began to think about it and assured them that I could do it. 

Comp is short for complimentary, and complimentary means free of charge.  I thought about several scriptures that speak of free.  The one that stood out to me for this blog is Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  

Romans 5:12 (NLT) “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.”   Our sin is a debt that must be paid to God, which we cannot pay.  We deserve to die, but God in his mercy comped us with eternal life.  Although some think that they can pay the debt, in reality the requirement for payment is more than we can handle. Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.”

Only one who is without sin can make the payment for us.  The payment is death, and Jesus Christ is the only one who could handle that requirement.  Nothing we can say or do, no amount of pleading with God, no amount of “I am sorry”, no amount of repentance can make things right with God, initially.  “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” Romans 5:8 (NLT) In Cathy’s case, the manager was the only one who could comp Cathy’s meal, thereby having a free lunch.

I hope the next time you hear the word comp, you will think about the greatest comp ever, which is eternal life.