I love a good freebie. Especially around Christmas, am I right? I don’t normally like going to the grocery store, but the free samples right now are amazing. You go to the mall, there’s that kiosk for Pepperidge Farms with those summer sausage & cheese samples…I’ll take it where I can get it. I also know a guy who goes nuts at conventions and collects every free pen he can get his hands on. When I was in high school I had 7 free Dr. Peppers in a row because I kept getting winning bottle caps for a free Dr. Pepper. Getting free stuff is fun!

That’s why I love Christmas. Not because people give me things. (How shallow would that be?) But because of what God did to cover the costs for us through Jesus. It’s that annual reminder that we couldn’t afford to do what needed to be done. It’s a refresher in the size of His benevolence fund of mercy and grace. It’s so good because it’s so big and it’s so undeserved.

Look at Mary & Joseph, they didn’t do anything to earn the ‘right’ to act as the parents of the Son of God. Look at the shepherds & wisemen, there was nothing intrinsically awesome about their birthrights or position that afforded them front row seats to Jesus’ entry onto the scene. It was simply the providence of God at work in their lives & they were allowed the grace of sharing in the celebration.

I don’t deserve anything. I know who I am. I can’t redeem myself from anything. And if I’m being supper honest with myself, I can’t successfully change anything about who I am in a permanent kind of way. I can sure fake it for a while, or be super disciplined for a season…but I cannot change my eternal destination. The grave is coming for me, and that’s all there is to it. It’s coming for you, too. (Merry Christmas, by the way.) So, all I can do is plead the blood of Christ to save me from a fate worse than death. And God gave me that permission through Jesus Christ 100% separate from my ability to royally screw anything up. He’s handling everything & I for one and truly thankful.

Free is good. Free, for me, always costs someone somewhere something. With free samples, the manufacturer or distributor takes a small hit in the hopes that you’ll take a sausage log or a cheese roll home with you. With the food court, it’s with the hope that you’ll buy a plate of orange chicken. At the convention, they give you pens with the hopes of gaining your business. But with God, there’s nothing we can give Him to repay Him. In fact, Jesus tells to give without expecting anything in return. Grace has to be free for it to be grace. If we had to work it off or pay it back, it wouldn’t be grace. Instead, God gives us the free (for us) gift of grace (that Jesus paid for with His blood & body) so that we might glorify Him with the rest of creation as He does His great redemptive work. What we do after the fact is the result of that grace at work. It is thanksgiving & love & appreciation & joy all pouring out because we cannot contain it.