$Free.99!!??

“Free’s for me!” my brother-in-law always says. He considers it quite the accomplishment to get something for free. (my sister doesn’t exactly always agree…) He’ll say something like “You know how much I got this table for right here? Free99! I was at a customer’s house, they were getting rid of it and they just gave it to me!” (Sister rolls eyes) “Ohhhh Fred. We don’t really need any more stuff!” But for Fred (a Free’s-For-Me OG before Facebook Marketplace Buy Nothing groups!) and many of us – there is something of childlike wonder getting something for nothing. Especially if it still works and is in good condition. We’re almost in disbelief – which makes sense.

From the time we are born we become aware of how much everything costs. You learn from a young age that you put a quarter into a gumboil machine, or take a few bucks into the corner store for candy, (or you learned like I did not to just take things at the store…). You don’t just waltz into the movies – you buy a ticket and of course $30 of popcorn. You learn the cold hard truth that “money doesn’t grow on trees” indicating you gonna need it, and it ain’t… free. The childlike wonder of having and living simply by being alive slowly gets trained that there is a cost for the things we want and need which evolves into a belief that there is a cost for everything.

It struck me as I was going back over this past Sunday in my head (which ended up a journey through Acts 13 with the topic of FREEDOM standing out like a page in a childhood pop-up book) how much we as habit or disbelief or shame demand to pay for our freedom. See on top of our awareness that “everything costs” there is a personal association of HOW MUCH everything costs. We assign our own personal value to things based on what’s important, needed or wanted. To some of you a 1965 Chevy II sounds like a rust bucket that get’s bad gas mileage and breaks down – but to me it sounds like one of the most iconic cars ever made and while it may have rust, may break down and may cost a fortune to go to the corner store… I’ll take it!

The amount we choose to pay is based solely on our internal belief systems. Whether it’s worth it, whether you need it, whether it’s a “good deal” or not all play into the exchange and this has to do with more than just tangible purchases – but also with the cost of love and relationships as well. Perhaps this is why it is so difficult for us to grasp with our transaction based minds the FREEdom that Jesus offers. Perhaps this is why we stray away from accepting it fully or believe we can’t pay enough for it. Perhaps this is why it is a heart issue; one your mind can’t and won’t ever fully comprehend (like most great relationships)

“So if the Son makes you free, then you are unquestionably free.” John 8:36 (AMP)

How much do you charge yourself for freedom? How hard is it to accept freedom? I can’t read Jesus’ mind but if I had to bet, that’s probably one of the most heartbreaking things. Paying the price for someone’s freedom and watching them lock themselves back up into their own prison cells over and over again. Giving your life for someone’s freedom and then watching them try to pay for it the rest of theirs.

In Acts 13 Paul and Barrus began telling the world about the FREEdom that Christ gave – They were trying to give it away. Freedom for free. What happened was some whose hearts took that glass of nice, cold, fresh water and others who tried to add it up in their head and ran them out of town.

Which crowd are you in? Decide right now whether you’ll set your intention to live a life accepting FREEdom or a life trying to pay for it yourself. I’d rather you consciously choose one of them than not think about it at all and live a life unconsciously choosing the latter assuming you were living in the former.

Jesus came to save us – every day. Take the glass of nice, cold, fresh water every day and remember, you can’t pay enough for it because it wasn’t yours to pay for in the first place.

This is an incredible story, one the world needs to hear – perhaps there’s someone you can think of that needs a better story and this is it. Go and love well!

Jared