It’s Free!
When I do mundane chores like mowing the grass, my mind tends to wander. Usually, I will start to think about spiritual things. Okay, most of the time it’s just meaningless stuff. One time while I was mowing, I started thinking about my perfect yard. Well, my dream of a perfect yard. As I was mowing, I was looking at mostly weeds with a little grass mixed in. When I first moved into my house fifteen years ago, I really worked to maintain the grass and keep the flower beds weed free. But I got sick and couldn’t maintain my yard as I should have done. I just didn’t have the desire to keep it up. Now that I am feeling good, the weeds are just too overwhelming. It would cost big bucks to get the yard looking good again. Now, I am just not willing to pay the price of a beautiful yard.
While I was pushing the mower – no riding mower for me – I was thinking about the cost to live these days. We like free stuff, don’t we. But everything has a price; nothing is really free. Except the freedom we find in Jesus. Jesus said He came to set the prisoners free (Luke 4:18). Our sins keep us bound and unable to live free. Jesus sets us free from our sin nature – our prison; our bodies of death and decay. Jesus paid the price for everyone. The cost of our freedom came through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Nothing we can do in ourselves will pay the price. The price has to be a perfect sacrifice. God says a lamb of perfection must be slaughtered in order to pay the price of sin.
God gave His people the of sacrifice thousands of years ago. But they had to do it annually. There was no way the sacrifice could do the work once and keep them from sinning. It was impossible. With Jesus all things are possible! He fulfilled the role of the perfect Lamb for once and for all. Nothing else has to be done. Jesus said on the cross with His last breath – “It is finished!” So with those words, I received a free gift when I said I believe Jesus died for my sins. He took the payment that was due for me and paid the price by His blood. But not just that, He defeated death by walking out of the grave. He didn’t stay dead! So not only do I have payment for my sins, I have the free gift of living with Jesus in heaven for eternity. It just keeps getting better. We live with the expectation that there is something more after we die. We have a hope that comes by the way of Jesus and His sacrifice.
My grass will wither and die – especially if it’s not raining. We too can be seen as grass to eternal beings. We too will wither and die one day. But with the promise that Jesus gives us, death for us who believe is just another transition to eternity with Jesus. One breath expelled here and a new breath taken in heaven. It’s not the end of us, but the true beginning. What a blessing to understand that Jesus sets us free from death, and it didn’t cost us anything to receive this gift. It’s free for anyone who will believe in His life and resurrection!
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he (Jesus) rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:18-21
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