When is Free not Really Free?

This morning, as I do most Thursday mornings, I ate breakfast at a nearby restaurant with a group of guys who gather early to pray. And as usual, we all order the "Two Eggs Breakfast Special." The special includes eggs, toast, homefries and coffee ... all for the bargain price of $2.99 ($3.17 with tax). When the server dropped our individual checks on the table ... since they are all the same price wise, we just take one and pass the rest until everyone has a check. I often don't even look at the check because I know what it is going to be. But this morning I took a quick glance ... and then a longer glance. All I saw was zeros!  Wow! I hit the jackpot! Perhaps I had been selected to receive a free breakfast? Nope. Just a mistake by the server when she rang up this check. Of course, I paid the $3.17 on my way out.

As I thought about that ... I thought about the cost of our salvation. God offers us eternal life as a free gift (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9). We don't have to work for it and we could never earn it no matter how hard we might try. It is offered to us FREE of charge! However, there was a price to be paid. And God paid it. So our salvation is indeed free to us but it came at a very high price to God!

Tomorrow is Good Friday, the traditional day we commemorate as the day Jesus Christ was crucified. It is through his shed blood that the price of our salvation was paid ... and it was paid in full. God did this in spite of the fact that we were still living in open rebellion against him. That my friend is an incredible act of love (Romans 5:8)!

Tomorrow set aside some time to open your Bibles and read all four gospel accounts of the crucifixion of Christ. As you do, remind yourself that he did this for YOU! Thanks be to God for this indescribable gift!

Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj