Free?

CONGRATULATIONS!  You've won a free trip to the Caribbean!   

All you have to do is sit through a 6 hour presentation on the benefits of buying into this time share, then you can claim your prize.

You've been selected to sample this new product.  Simply go to the website to claim your prize.

Complete this form with your credit card information, and we will send you your first one free, then you will be charged $10 for every subsequent product shipped.  

FREE 30 day trial!  

Your credit card will be charged monthly following your trial, but you can cancel at any time. 

2 Free movie tickets and popcorn on us!  

When you spend $40 in our store.

Last night I was so excited to get a coupon for a free sample of a new product that encourages healthy eating.  But when I went to the website to claim my "free" sample, I was required to input my credit card information with a promise that I could cancel at any time after my free sample had arrived.    Technically, I could still get the product free, but the hook (and likelihood) is that I will probably forget to cancel the account and then I will be charged for my "free" product.    

Today I got an email promising me 2 free movie tickets and popcorn, of course I would have to spend $40 in the store before I could claim my "free" tickets.   It would actually be cheaper for me to just buy the tickets!   

There are a lot of gimmicks out there, a lot of things screaming "Free", but laced with a hook.    These hooks are a mockery of freedom.    They lure you in promising a prize, a gift, a service, all the while capturing you with their fine print.   

There are so many times we find "free" isn't really "free".   But, I have some good news!  There is a freedom without hooks, without fine print!!!  

Matthew 17:25-26 recounts a conversation that Jesus had with Peter: "...Jesus spoke to him first, saying 'What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?'  And when he said, 'From others,' Jesus said to him, 'Then the sons are free.'"

There are so many verses that tell us that because of God's great love and Jesus' sacrifice, we are now called "children of God" (1 John 3:1-2, for example).   As "sons", we are free.    That word in the Greek is eleutheros, and it means "free, exempt, unrestrained, not bound by obligation".   

John 8:36 says "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."    This is the same Greek word for free, but adds the emphasis of indeed, which in the Greek means "truly, in reality, in point of fact, as opposed to what is pretended, fictitious, false, conjectural".   Jesus is wanting to drive home the point that we are truly unrestrained, free from obligation to the law, not just in words, but in truth.  

This is good news!  In fact, it's great news!    In Christ, we have been set completely free!    He has broken every chain, opened every prison door! He has given us a new name, a new life, freedom to love and to be loved - all without restraint.

You were born for freedom in Him!   What's holding you back?  Jump up and out of those chains and run unrestrained into the arms of the Father!  He's been waiting for you!