It's All Free

In my experience, the best of life happens on the inside as a result of knowing—again and again—that God in Christ has justified me. That means that He has made me literally and authentically good, and that He has given me His righteousness, holiness, redemption, sanctification, and every blessing as a gift of His love.  How cool is that?

Jesus earned entirely everything for you for entirely nothing from you. In Him you have been given every blessing already for free. Knowing that is going to affect you, and that’s His plan. Believing that fact is the challenge, but earning it is not.  Anything that teaches less than that makes you crazy.  Maybe you’ve noticed.

The gospel loses its dazzle when you believe that you must work or serve or tithe in order to earn blessings from God.  There are too many of us who have been turned into something like the elder brother of the prodigal, believing that we have to earn what is already ours because of the grace of the Father. Now that’s crazy, and we act a little crazy because of it.

However, you live best when you live by faith in the complete sufficiency of what Christ did for you—not just forgiven as a result of His sin removal system, but given everything that He has.  Everything from God for you is all for free.  The earning is all done, and you can rest.

Taking dictation from God, Isaiah wrote what Jesus fulfilled centuries later: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!  ("Well, if I have no money, how can I buy?"  Believe and come near in order to see that it’s all yours for free.)
 Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost” (Isaiah 55:1, italics mine).

The apostle Paul, himself dazzled by “it’s all free,” wrote to the Ephesians, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3).

Your life with God is not about a sacrifice you make, but a belief and a trust and a rest in a sacrifice He made.  Because of Him, it’s all free for you.