When my husband and I traveled to Savannah, GA last summer, we took a trolley tour of the beautiful, historic city. A frequently highlighted feature of the homes in the wards and squares of Savannah is the presence of red doors on some of these incredible houses. We were told that there is a very strict rule about choosing this particular paint color: the only homes allowed to have a red door are ones that have been fully paid off with no outstanding mortgage.

I’ve been reading a book about the Israelite Exodus, and as I learned more about the symbolism of the Passover, I was reminded of those red doors in Savannah. In case you don’t remember that story, let’s review: The Israelites had spent 430 years in the land of Egypt. Their time there began as a rescue mission by a benevolent and grateful pharaoh to save the people from a famine, but when new leaders looked around at the growing nation, they got nervous. By the time of Moses, the Israelites were enslaved by their once gracious hosts. Life was difficult, but the worst part was that they weren’t allowed to worship the One True God. Instead, they were surrounded by paganism. It was time to get God’s people out of Egypt.

God chose Moses to speak to Pharaoh, and He performed amazing wonders, like turning the water to blood and creating swarms of frogs to pop up in the most inconvenient places. At first, Pharaoh’s magicians could replicate these miracles, but they were eventually stumped. By the time a plague of gnats hit the place, even the magicians were crediting the “finger of God” with what they saw. Six more plagues devastated the land of Egypt, but still Pharaoh refused to give Moses what he asked, to let the people go.

Then came the final plague, and this one was going to be different than the rest. For the nine plagues that came before this one, the Israelites were automatically exempt from the chaos and damage. When the Egyptian livestock started dropping, not one animal belonging to the Israelites died. Amazingly, when complete darkness hit the land of Egypt, Scripture says, “No one (in Egypt) could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.” It was the same for the boils and the locust and the frogs. The Israelites were spared without doing anything.

Then came Plague #10. Exodus 12 tells us God’s directions for Moses and the people. Part of these detailed instructions involved marking their doors so that the angel of death would pass over their houses and their first born sons would be saved. It says, “Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs…The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you.”

As a Christ-follower, this Old Testament story has so many layers of meaning. I am humbled to my core at the thought of blood from a perfect, spotless lamb being the source of my salvation. But as much as I am struck by the grace I’ve been shown, there’s always a “this-is-too-good-to-be-true” part of me that still thinks I need to pay for this. I have moments where I think that I need to do the saving, but it’s just not true. When I took on Christ, I got a red door that says I can live debt-free with a fully paid mortgage. As the Apostle Paul said it, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”