That's Right, It's Totally Free

"Beware of any product that claims to be totally free !"

That advice is quickly learned by modern Americans in a consumer driven society. The clever consumer, who at an early age becomes accustomed to being bombarded by exaggerated product claims, quickly becomes skeptical of any marketing ploy or advertisement that offers a product as "Free!"… or … "With Absolutely No Obligation!".

After all, weren't we taught early on as children, (either in kindergarten or shortly thereafter), that " There is never a free lunch!"?

Being owners of this consumer mindset, it is therefore particularly difficult for western Christians to grasp the fullness of that most important of God's gifts to us:

The gift of grace

Even though "grace" is a commonly used word in the Christian's vocabulary, far too often Christians struggle with conceptualizing and totally grasping this profound concept and the rich truths that grace embodies. And what is the hardest feature of grace to grasp?

Grace is free.

Now just hold on there. This notion that something that is worth having is absolutely free, conflicts with all that we've learned since childhood. Western Christians, in a post-modern society, may innately struggle with the rich truth that grace is free, and therefore unobtainable through our own achievements.

Such words as "assurance", "salvation", "redemption" and "faith" are routinely heard in "Christian circles". When one stops to embrace the weight of their true meaning however, the skies can open up with blessings. With "grace" there seems to be no end to it's usage in our conversation. We sing "Amazing Grace" at church, (even by thousands at the Opening Ceremonies of the 1996 World Olympics), we hear such phrases as "But for the grace of God there goes I", and express our thanks for God's grace. Yet when we take time to seriously consider what this little word really says, only then do we begin to scratch the surface of the fathomless depth of grace.

Stated simply, grace is the gift of unmerited love imparted by God to his children. Look at that definition closely. It means this little one syllable word describes a powerfully strong doctrine of the Christian faith. This grace is holistic; meaning that God totally forgives the sins of his children, and God's grace is dynamic; meaning the believer's sins of the past, present and future fall under grace's cure.

Now to the hard part. This magnificent gift is free. That's right, no amount of riches, work, personal deprivation, chanting, flagellation or good deeds can make us worthy of God's grace. And that fact simply flies in the face of what we've come to expect out of life.

This is why grace is characterized as unmerited favor. This means we are infinitely incapable of accomplishing deeds that will earn this grace.

That leaves us attempting to integrate a concept foreign to our cultural moorings. From childhood we have been taught the ethic that we are captains of our own destiny, and that we can't get anywhere without some good old fashioned blood, sweat, and tears. That is man's way.

Grace is God's way.

God's grace is bestowed on his followers without any preconditions. When God's Son spiritually transforms one of God's tarnished image bearers from being a condemned rebel to a child of God, there is grace, and only grace, that is personified.

And yes it is absolutely free.

God's Word has much to say about grace. From the pages of the Bible we can learn, among other things, that grace is all-abundant, glorious, great, manifold and rich. The Apostle Paul, himself a recipient of this wondrous gift of grace, spoke to the Corinthian Christians in these words: "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed." Mighty strong words indeed. Paul states that the extent of the gift of grace is so deep it actually "abounds in us" and allows us a voluminous abundance to handle anything.

If this gift of grace is free, is it therefore cheap? Hardly not. Grace is incalculably expensive. Even though grace is free to the recipient, it is most costly to the donor.

You see, the price of grace was the life of Jesus Christ.

Don't read past those words too quickly. Focus your mind's eye on them again. The innocent and sinless Son of God willingly left the throne room of Heaven, came to earth put on human skin, and was tortured, traumatized, terrorized, separated from His Father, and brutally executed in order to pay for that grace.

Is it any wonder then that we could never muster the resources or talents necessary to earn that grace?

Of course grace is free…..

Considering the price paid, how could it be any other way?

Bill Tanzey

©1999 Bible Center Church

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