Is Salvation a Free Gift?

The words FREE GIFT attract the attention of most of us. Marketers especially like to use these words in upper case to draw people's attention to what they are pitching. But is a gift really FREE?

A gift is free for the person who receives it but not for the person who gives it. The giver always pays a price - unless of course you 'forwarded' the gift that you got on your birthday but didn't like! In that case, neither you nor your poor [ :( ] friend will pay anything. 'Forwarding' such a gift is so easy - much like forwarding an SMS joke when you have subscribed to a free SMS pack with your cell phone service provider.
The gift of salvation that Jesus Christ promises to give us, comes at a very hefty price. But that price has already been paid by him on the Cross at Calvary. [Read this post to learn more] We simply need to open our hearts and lives to him, in order to receive that gift. So there is no dollar value attached to it - no rituals to carry out, no mantras to be chanted, no sacrifice we need to offer. Salvation is a gift of grace. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8) Jesus paid the price. The moment we open our hearts, we start gaining from the value of the sacrifice.

Price vs. Value
Jesus' work on the Cross was the price he paid for our sins. The salvation we get when we receive him, is the value of this sacrifice. "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name" (John 1:12)
In the next post, we will take the birthday gift analogy a bit further, to explain the urgency (time-sensitivity) of the need to claim this FREE GIFT of salvation. So stay logged-in!