I love getting free stuff, which attracts me to a furniture commercial which promises if the Boston Red Sox win the first four games of the World Series all the furniture I buy between now and then will be free. I will get a check in the mail, so the more I buy the more will be free. I find myself sitting in front of the TV trying to think of something to buy, which is totally ridiculous. Instead I should be thinking about how to get rid of the furniture we already have.
Car commercials are a bit deceptive. They promise $10,000 cash back if I buy their vehicle. It sounds like I would be getting something free until I read the word “back.” That means I paid them my $10,000 up front and they are returning what was already mine. That’s not free. I am just getting the real price of the vehicle.
Paul had this issue with the church in Galatians. It seems that after he presented the Gospel, which is free, others would come and tell them, “Well, yes, but, you have to do such and such.” Paul wrote, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel which is really no gospel at all.” Galatians 1:6. Beware of the word “but”; what usually follows is heresy. “Yes, salvation is free. But …”
When I was little I loved parades because toward the end of the parade clowns would throw pieces of candy to the crowds. That was free. Perhaps there will be parades in heaven and the angels will shower us with wonderful things that are truly free.
Spring Of Life