Really! It's free.

 

No one likes getting something for nothing more than me.  

Getting a good deal or better yet, getting something for free makes my happy endorphins all a glow.  

 

But what can change that happy glow to red hot righteous anger is when I buy into an amazing free deal and later find out there are strings attached.  

The Sea World tickets aren't really free at all because you have to sit through a mind-numbing lecture on timeshares.  

 

So no, the tickets were not FREE!  And, I was not a good representative of Jesus at 45-minutes into that lecture nor following the lecture when I had to sit for 30 more minutes with the high-pressure salesperson one-on-one.  

I'm guessing you figured out by now, we don't own a timeshare.

 

However, seeing The Otter Show at Sea World went a long way in helping me forget the misery of the timeshare meeting.

 

In the book of Galatians, Paul addresses something that reminds me of a timeshare deal, too good to be true.  

 

In the early church, there were religious legalists.  Let's call them the timeshare salespeople.  These legalistic leaders could not believe that what Christ did for us on the cross was enough.  They wanted to add rituals into their Christian Worship that involved works.  

 

In so doing, they were placing the new believers back under the curse of the Law.  Their salvation was no longer free but work-based.   

 

In the Net Bible, Galatians 2:16 says this, know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

 

In this verse, we see there is no bait and switch going on.  No, need to sit through that timeshare meeting or sign on the dotted line, to receive your free gift of salvation.  

Nope, no works needed here, our salvation truly is free.  If someone tells you otherwise, get out of there.  RUN!

The only cost to us is our faith to believe.

Really!  It's free.

Disclaimer:  To the people who own timeshares--I'm happy for you and a huge thank you to those who let us use their timeshares for free--really free--that was amazing.  We had a blast.