There is no such thing as free salvation?

Sunday morning I was greeting people in the parking lot. I offered Carl Ternullo a bulletin as he got out of the vehicle. He asked how much it cost and I cleverly replied that it was free like salvation. However, I awoke with this morning with my mind troubled and the realization that salvation is not free. We preachers often preach free salvation to all who will come, repent, and recognize the complete truth about the sacrifice of Christ. Indeed it is true that Christ offered the living water freely to all who thirsted. So why did I wake up with the compelling idea salvation is not free? The truth is we do not pay for our salvation but it is still not free.

Think about the approach of Christmas. My children will open freely gifts provided to them without cost to them. However, my wife (who does the budget far better than I ever could) will be crunching dollars and cents between now and then to ensure those gifts are purchased. They are not free as far as we are concerned. I pray I am teaching my children to appreciate that which they are given because they understand it cost their mother and me something to provide them. If they appreciate this then they will take care of the gifts and treat them as precious because of their regard for us their parents.

So now I finally come to the point of the title. Salvation cannot be free if we use phrases like "the sacrifice of Christ" or "redeemed" or even "born-again." Have you ever seen a lady right after giving birth? Angela was exhausted, in pain, and shivering when it was over and it took sometime for her to recover. The physical toil of the muscles left her very sore and the loss of blood left her weak and cold. Being born once cost our mothers physical health for nearly two months of recovery time. Salvation is not free. What did it cost?

It cost Jesus his lofty place in heaven as He was God manifested in flesh and come to His own but His own rejected Him. It cost Him a life of comfort and ease. Prior to His open ministry there was probably some dads who wanted Jesus to marry their daughters. After all He would make the perfect son-in-law. But this was not His path as He set His face towards Jerusalem and got about His Father's business. He became a man of sorrow and despised of people. Salvation cost Christ before the first blow was delivered. Then that fateful day when He bled in the garden while praying, was beaten with the hands of priests, drug all over Jerusalem from one trial to another, beaten with the whip and rod, and then nailed to a cross where every drop of blood drained from His body and His heart ruptured. Yes, it pleased God to bruise Him and by His stripes we are healed at no cost to us, but salvation was not free.

I pray we learn to appreciate the cost of our salvation and treat this gift from God through Jesus as precious. Do not do this because it is the greatest gift ever, do it because you really do have and hold a regard for Christ. A regard so great that great is too weak a word to really describe what you feel deep within you. May it be so great that only the Holy Spirit can pray your true love as you thank Jesus for paying for your free salvation.