Episode 343: I’m Talkin…Free

I’m talking episode 343 for November 10th, 2024.

This is Joel from the I’m Talking Microcast, where I share my thoughts on a topic that has piqued my interest this past week.

This week we’re talking free.

So I don’t think free needs a definition.

It is a word that we’re all familiar with, even though we wish maybe it was used a little more often.

Um, hard to say, but you know, the idea of free is that there’s no charge and there’s nothing you have to pay is just something that is given to you.

It’s free.

And it really is rare in today’s world.

Everybody wants something for what they have.

Many people think what they have is worth way more than it actually is worth, and they probably couldn’t get rid of it if they said it was free, but that’s the idea.

It’s like when you put things on the sidewalk and you write the word free on them, no one ever takes them.

But if you say a hundred dollars don’t take or something like that, then immediately it gets taken, but that’s the idea of free is that there is no charge to you, no cost.

And in today’s world, many times when things are free, they say, if you’re not paying for it, then there is a catch.

There’s something that you’re missing.

And oftentimes it might be that you are the product and in the technology world, especially that is what is thought.

So, oh, I get to use Google services for free.

Well, not necessarily for free because they keep everything about you.

They learn as much as they can about you.

So those are some of the things and the ways that the world thinks of free and always with an eye of skepticism.

And therein lies the challenge for those of us who call ourselves Christians.

I kind of stumbled over that one, but we’ll go with it.

So the reality is that Christians have something that is priceless, that you can’t measure the worth of, and we say that it’s free.

And what is that?

Well, the Bible says in Romans 6, 23, all have sinned.

Nope, sorry.

That’s 3, 23, 6, 23 says for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord.

So the idea there is that it’s free.

So many people try to figure out how they can work their way to heaven.

How do I be good enough?

How do I act correctly?

Do I need to just be a little bit better than my neighbor?

It’s not like you’re running away from a bear attack and all you have to be is faster than the slowest person to get free of that.

That’s not the concept at all.

The concept is that God offers something that doesn’t cost you anything.

It cost his son, everything, his son sacrificed his life so that you could have this free gift of eternal life, this forgiveness of your sins.

And the idea there, different than the world is this free comes with full disclosure.

There are no hidden.

What ifs?

There are no tricks.

There are no traps.

There’s nothing that you have to do.

In fact, there’s nothing that you can do.

It is a free gift, but like every gift, it has to be taken or you never get it.

So God is offering something free, no strings attached, it’s the best thing that you could ever get as Christians.

We already know that.

We want to share that with the world.

And we have that promise of eternal life with our savior, Jesus Christ, because of the penalty he paid on the cross.

And we get all of that benefit for absolutely nothing, absolutely free.

Until next week, this is Joel from the I’m Talking Microcast.