Increasingly our society is one which is given and demands free stuff. The American public is given free phones and free houses and free money. Politicians want to give free education, free healthcare and free drugs and needles and other things. But the truth of the matter is, there is nothing really free. Nothing at all.

This is true in nature. You don’t eat an apple unless a lot of work went into bringing it into existence. First, there was a seed. That seed also had to be planted. The trees then had to be nurtured and harvested. If you got the apple from a store you had to pay for it from money you had to work to earn. Even in the wild, an apple grew from a seed that had to come from trees that grew and made it to maturity without being destroyed by disease or predators. The very first fruit trees came from God’s creative work. Every fruitful garden is the product of hard work.

The world itself is the product of work. God created the world. While God is omnipotent, nevertheless it took effort on His part to bring the world into being. “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made” (Gen. 2:2). The world is still not free for He upholds all things by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3). Every living thing is the product of work and it takes work to keep it alive.

It is true in life. You don’t get friends unless you work for them. Even if you and another person hit it off well from the start, you still have to nurture the friendship through time and through crises. The same is true in a marriage. Marriage, if it is lasting and meaningful, is the result of two people working on a relationship. Real effort must be brought to the relationship to make it work. It is also true in employment. You don’t get a paycheck unless you work for it. You may get by for a little while welching on your obligations, but sooner or later the employer will find out and send you packing.

The same is true of government handouts. Everything the government offers is paid for by the hard earned money it has taken from its citizens. The government doesn’t have any money of it’s own (unless it prints it–and that comes with ramifications), but must tax its citizens. The money its citizens have is gained by those citizens working for it. So the phone you received “free” from the government was actually paid for by someone else who had to work to get the money to pay for it. There is nothing free, especially from the government.

The same is also true spiritually. Even the “free gift” of salvation is not totally free (Rom. 5:15). That gift is “by” Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:15-17). The word “by” signifies the price Jesus paid to bring about salvation. We sing the words, “Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe” because He purchased our salvation at the expense of His own blood (Acts 20:28). There is no more expensive gift than the gift of salvation. And even the salvation which I receive is contingent upon obedience. Christ became the author of eternal salvation unto all that obey Him (Heb. 5:8). “Work out your own salvation” (Phil. 2:12).

It is also true in the church. In order for the congregation of which we are members to grow, we must work. People will not obey unless they hear, and they cannot hear unless we teach (Rom. 10:14). If we want the congregation of which we are members and the church as whole to have unity, we must “endeavor to keep” that unity. The very idea implies that we have to work to keep it. There is energy spent and efforts made. A growing vibrant congregation is not free.

The idea that we can have free things is enticing but it is also corrupting. Those who think that they can get something free have little incentive to work and as long as the government lures people with free stuff the more corrupt our society will become. (Please understand that I am not opposed to helping the truly indigent and needy – Gal. 6:10). Not even sin is free. Unforgiven sin will cost you an eternity.

There just ain’t no free stuff!

Eric L. Padgett