It has been said that the best things in life are free. This would not include that free soft drink with your fast food hamburger, since carbonated sugar water is not "best".
But, here's what IS "best" AND "free":
1. Light
2. Air
3. Water (although, technically, most of us pay for water, one way or another) (rain is free, though!)
This morning I was up long before the sun, and didn't know what a bright and beautiful day it would become. I was overjoyed to see the sunshine pouring through my window a few hours later, and feel its warmth. Truly, a blessing, undeserved, un-purchased and underestimated.
John 8:12 "Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."" John 9:5 "While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world." John 12:46 ""I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness." John 1:4 "In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men." Matthew 5:45 "He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."
At the happy appearance of the sun, I closed my eyes to pray and took a long, deep breath...instantly realizing, that it, too, was a free gift of God. It felt so good to be able to fill my lungs thoroughly and oxygenate my brain and my whole being - for free!
Genesis 2:7 "Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being." Job 33:4 "The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life." Acts 17:25 "He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things."
The first thing I put to my lips this morning was a glass of water. I used water for a long-awaited and refreshing shower. And, I have laundered our clothing in water. How readily we take water for granted, until it isn't available. We know we cannot live but a few days without it. Jesus uses the illustration of water to help us understand His gift to us.
John 4:13-14 “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” John 6:35 "Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."
In conclusion, we all acknowledge that we must have light, air and water in order to continue living. We accept these free gifts without hesitation or compensation. Today, I am reminded to appropriate and more fully appreciate the free gift of God, provided by the Lord Jesus Christ, that leads to life eternal.
Romans 5:15-18 "But the free gift isn't like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. The gift is not as through one who sinned: for the judgment came by one to condemnation, but the free gift came of many trespasses to justification. For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. "
Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; "
