Salvation is Free

“Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?”  —Isaiah 55:2

As I stood in line at the food court at the City Town Mall in Charleston, WV, a sloppily dressed man with perspiration-soaked shirt slid a sandwich baggy full of coins along the counter next to me. I paid for my meal and noticed the cook filling a small plastic glass with ice water for the man beside me. The man preparing to fish through his bag of coins asked, “How much?” The cook waved him off and said, “It’s OK, take it. It’s nothing. Just go.”

As I ate my meal, I noticed this man carrying his empty plastic glass to another restaurant counter. The cashier took his glass, filled it with water, and returned it to him. I can only guess what he said to the cashier for I was too far away to hear and his back was toward me, but I read the cashier’s lips, “A quarter.” He fished twenty-five cents out of his bag and paid for his water. I watched with keen interest as he sauntered through the mall sipping his water. I couldn’t help but think, “Surely, there is a water fountain or bathroom sink in this huge mall where water is free.”

You may have heard the statement, “The best things in life are free.” I believe not only are the best things free but the most satisfying and lasting things in life are free. Many of this world’s things are extremely expensive. Why else would companies spend billions of dollars on advertising to entice us to purchase their widgets and gadgets? How fulfilling do our ipods, ipads, nooks, smart phones, motorcycles, clothes, cars, and Xboxes make our lives? We wait in line to spend our last bag of coins for the latest and greatest thing only to find it is outdated the moment the money leaves our hands.

The Book of Isaiah has been considered by many to be the 5^th Gospel, the Good News of Jesus from the Old Testament. Isaiah 55 calls all of us who are morally and spiritually bankrupt to come to God and buy life sustaining nourishment without money and without cost (55:1).  Before I became a believer, I struggled to understand how salvation could be free. I read verses like Romans 6:23 and Ephesians 2:8. “The gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.” “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Although I understood what the words of the Bible said, I somehow believed deep in my being it couldn’t be true. I had to pay my way, earn God’s acceptance. In those days, I must have looked to God like the poor man at the mall paying his last coin for water at the counter of life when there is within reach a supply of pure, free, and life-giving water.

A couple days later I took a walk through the mall after lunch. I searched out the directory map to locate the restrooms. Although I did not find a water fountain, I found the restrooms directly below the food court where clean water was available free at the sink. That man spent some of his last coins for water he could have had free in abundance. Do you see a parallel in your life? Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?”(Isaiah 55:2) You have been paying for things in this life that do not satisfy while God reaches out to you and invites you to “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost” (Isaiah 55:1). Jesus invites you to freely come to God through Him. It’s actually not free. Jesus paid for your salvation with His life’s blood, but it’s free to you and me.