Unfamiliarity with Grace

Quick question: when was the last time someone gave you something of great value freely, without any expectation on your part, and it came as a surprise to you?  Tough question to answer?  Maybe, like me, you have a hard time answering that because it just doesn't happen very often.

There are lots of sayings that describe the lack of grace in our world.  "There's no such thing as a free lunch."  "What's the catch?"  As a society, we actually get really suspicious when someone offers to simply give us something with no strings attached.  If it's too good to be true, it probably isn't, right?

That same kind of thinking then enters our minds when we think about God's grace.  I've heard various reasons why God doesn't simply give His forgiveness or salvation freely from people.  Answers such as "If it's a free gift, then you don't value it."  This makes it seem as though the only things we value in life are the things that cost us quite a bit.  And from a human standpoint, that does seem to make sense.

But that's also where we need to take a look at the situation from God's point of view.  God did pay a very high, dear price to be able to give us His gift of grace (here I'm referencing His specific, salvation type of grace).  He paid the price with His own Son.  He gave His Son into the hands of people who would not believe in His words about God's grace, who would plot against Him, and finally, nail Him to a cross.  That price was multiplied when God Himself poured out all wrath at sin and wrongdoing upon His own Son as He hung there on the cross.

Grace, from God's point of view, is costly.  And because He chose to pay such a high price, He values that gift of grace very highly.  It isn't God's problem when we fail to value His gift of grace, it is ours.  It's that we so often fail to see the cost of that grace.  We sometimes cannot get over the fact that it's a gift, that it doesn't require specific works or ways of thinking or lifestyles, but instead, simple trust that it is a gift from God.

My hope and prayer is that each of you comes to realize the cost of God's grace, and that His free gift is then one that you value greatly.