As I was driving to work this morning, I saw a sign on one of our local grocery stores that read, “earn free stuff.” That immediately set my mind spinning. Let’s think about this; if something is truly free, should you have to earn it? I mean if I have to “earn” it then I have done or gave something in exchange for the “free stuff” and therefore it is not free…maybe you won’t pay physical money for it, but there are several other ways to pay for things. Take a healthy, physically fit person for example. They eat right, they work out, avoid all-you-can eat buffets…when they take their shirt off at the beach (speaking of men only here…) and you see that six-pack and muscles everywhere that wasn’t free, they’ve earned it!
So many people believe the same is true of God’s free stuff. Although it is free, we must do something to earn it. This is a lie from Satan. Satan is so deceitful and most of the time will only distort the truth. He did this with Jesus in the wilderness, with Adam and Eve in the garden, and he does this with us in this lie as well. Yes, you must do something to receive the free gift…you must accept it! In the same way as you must remove the wrapping paper from a Christmas gift, you must accept and receive God’s gifts of forgiveness and grace for them to be applied to your life. God’s free stuff is free, but not automatic. However, earning forgiveness and grace is not even remotely possible. Isaiah 64 proclaims that all of our righteous acts are as filthy rags to God. In Galatians 2:21, Paul declares that if righteousness is the law, then Christ’s death had no purpose!
My dad always told me growing up that nothing in life is truly free. This is very true. Somebody somewhere has to pay for it, right? When you get a free t-shirt for coming to Crosspoint Church it is free to you, but someboby paid for it right? The same is true of God’s free gifts. They are free to us, but they cost God everything! He gave His only Son that we might have access to Him!
