There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

"Come, all you who are thirsty; come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without costs.  Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?  Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.  Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live."  (Isaiah 55:1-3).


What sweet words these are from the Lord's mouth!  In this passage God speaks of things that will sustain us, not material provisions, but God's love and pardon for our sins, and His love does not cost us a thing.  We cannot earn or buy his love in any way.  No amount of good deeds or hours spent at church could earn us a place with Him in eternity.  What strikes me about this passage is that while our righteousness before God doesn't cost us anything, it cost God everything.  He was willing to sacrifice his only Son Jesus Christ on a cross so we could attain salvation.  Apart from Christ we are utterly lost in this world.  We have no claim to righteousness without his saving grace.

God calls us to "come buy wine and milk without money and without costs."  Though it may be free for us, there really is no such thing as a free lunch.  Someone somewhere must pay the price.  On a much higher level, the same is true for salvation.  We deserve eternal punishment since it is against a holy, infinite God that we sin.  Since God is a God of justice, before we can stand before him in right relationship, our sin must be atoned for.  Rather than making us take the punishment, Christ bore the sins of the world when he died on the cross.  With his death our sins were put to death as well, but with his resurrection, we too were raised to new life!

I doubt I will ever fully understand how God can love us so much as to come to earth to die for us, but I will be eternally grateful for this gift.  He truly is the delight of my soul!