"Free"

We've all seen it, "Free"; free trial, free 4 day/3 night vacation, free iPad2, the list goes on and on. Then comes the disclaimer, subscription at full price automatically starts if not canceled prior to exipration of "free" trial. Or, in order to get that "free" vacation you have to listen to a sales pitch for a timeshare or some other opportunity. In order to get the "free" iPad2 you have to complete 6 offers. All of these "free" things are suddenly no longer free.

Yesterday, my wife came to me with a "free" opportunity that she came across while running. A neighbor of ours had several stones about beside the road with a sign indicating that they were free. So, my wife literally ran home to get me and a vehicle to load up the stones. I was about to leave for the office and wasn't really in attire suitable for lifting dirty wet stones in a our vehicle. In addition, our vehicle was not ready to have dirty wet stones put into it (in other words there was no tarp or plastic or other material to keep the interior of our vehicle from getting dirty). I also knew that these "free" stones meant that some sort of project was coming and were going to need a permament location which I was sure would not be immediately agreed upon. So, to sum things up, I was instantly seeing the "disclaimer" while my wife was focused on the "free". Later, I had conversations with my wife about where these stones were to be put, saw several bags of paver base to create a suitable base for the rocks (these bags were not free) and heard about the emotional displeasure of my daughter who did not want to give up our playset as the new location for these rocks. These "free" rocks were not feeling very "free" to me.

I don't bring this up to make my wife look bad (I actually appreciate her desire to save us money), instead I bring this up as an example to show how easy it is to get enticed by something that ends up being "not all it's cracked up to be". In life we tend to settle for the quick fix, the latest and the greatest, the new fad, etc. When we do, we usually find out that these things weren't what we thought they would be. They don't satisfy, they don't fulfill. We leave feeling taken, cheated, disappointed.

Jesus offers us something different. In Galatians 5:1, Paul says to the church in Galatia; "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." The people in Galatia were trying to add to the grace of God, they were creating a disclaimer to Jesus' offer of FREE. Jesus' offer is different than the "free" offers we are accustomed to. in Jesus, we are offered true life, we are offered freedom from religion, from works, from the bondage of sin. What have you done with this offer? Have you accepted it or are you still looking for the disclaimer? Jesus wants to set you free, will you let Him?