One morning while a young man prepared for work, he watched a paid programming television show and heard an offer that sounded too good to be true. It sounded like everything you would ever need all in one package and absolutely free of charge. There was a speaker that paced a stage and talked about the product with energy and conviction. There were guest testimonies of how they had tried the speaker’s brand and everything spoken was true and even more and all absolutely free. In the car on his drive into work, a radio personality was talking about the product and how it had helped him. It sounded like the greatest thing that ever came along and absolutely free of charge. An announcer came on after the radio personality finished and gave a toll free number to call for more information.
Additional research was done and a decision was made to go for it. A call was made and a booklet was ordered. The voice on the phone asked for a small payment but told him it was voluntary, as stated in the advertisement, the information was absolutely free. The young man declined the payment and waited for the booklet. When it arrived the young opened the package and quickly read through the booklet. When he had finished, he wanted more information so he looked through the accompanying letters and advertisements. He found that the additional materials could be purchased from the company. He also found that the material was based on a book, so he went out and purchased the book. Reading the book made him want more, so he found a users group. The group was helpful, but he quickly found that what was advertised for free had a price.
The group talked about the price being the changes that the man would have to make, but the man did those willingly. The man also gave willingly weekly to help provide a place for the group to meet and other expenses. The price was social rules that were not found in the book and the continuation of old bylaws that had been amended. After the young man had attended the meetings for sometime and committed himself, he was told that he could no longer dance in public or drink, not even one glass of wine with dinner. He was also told that along with the generous gifts he gave weekly, that he was required to send additional monies and to reap the full benefits of the program, he would have to send at least ten percent of his earnings. It was also suggested that he might want to dress a little better for the meetings, some people would talk.
The young man could not believe what he was hearing. The advertisements had been the “bate and switch” con. The new and improved product was the same old thing with a new wrapper on the outside. The people that were advertising the product really had no claim to it. It could be obtained from the manufacture directly. The old product contained all the same stuff as the new. The difference was that the inventor came and demonstrated the product and took away a lot of restrictions for its use that had been added by good meaning salesmen. The product itself had not changed, but was the same yesterday today and forever. The advertisers were using pieces of what the inventor said to, either defraud or out of misunderstandings, create a business.
If you have not figured it out by now, the product the young man was seeking was the grace of God. The grace of God has always been. Jesus is the realization of the grace of God, a living example. Misunderstanding God’s grace caused the first humans to hide from Him. We continue to hide from God because we are not perfect. Jesus makes us all perfect by washing away our imperfections with His blood. There is no price to be paid for grace, Jesus was the price and it has been paid. There is no one to go to except to God. Jesus opened the path to everyone to go directly to God. It has been said that good is not good enough and that’s true. It is true also of appearing to be good through the rules laid down by the users groups that want to be called church. Jesus is our righteousness. Love God. Love one another as Jesus loved and loves. Give with a cheerful heart. Rules or law cannot bind these things. They cannot be packaged and sold. Thank God, that for all of us, they were freely given and must be freely received.