Gooder than Good

We all like to get a good deal.  We’ll clip coupons to save 50 cents on our favorite breakfast cereal, or order merchandise online before a cutoff date to get free shipping.  Our car finds it way to the drive-thru when a large coke is free with our order of a burger and fries.  We feel triumph when we find that perfect nightstand for the spare bedroom for pennies on the dollar at a weekend garage sale.

We enroll in frequent flier and cash back reward programs, buy entertainment cards and discounted movie tickets at Costco because we want a good deal. We haggle with the car salesman over price or try to get free upgrades added on, for the good deal of course.  We feel great when we can get a hefty rebate on the latest smart phone or negotiate a large software package for our new laptop.  

We are pros at scouting for good deals because most of us started early.  The free toy in the cereal box looked like a good deal when we were four.  And we learned how to cut good deals by swapping baseball cards or super heroes figures with our friends. The internet has revolutionized the way we search for good deals with endless comparison or discount sites and those pesky pop-ups that assure us they offer sensational deals. 

But we’ve also learned that all that glitters isn’t gold.  That internet, phone, TV bundle sounds fabulous until we read that its a 2 year contract and the discount rates are only good for the first year.  The all-inclusive vacation package looks great until we see the list of fees and expenses that are excluded.  From our first disappointment with the cheesy free cereal toy that didn’t look anything like the picture on the box, we’ve learned to be wary of “good deals.”

Perhaps this is why we find it so difficult to accept God’s free gift of grace and favor to us without attaching some conditions to it.  God clearly tells us that because of His grace and favor, we are delivered from judgment and given all the privileges of Jesus Himself. 

And this good deal just keeps getting “gooder.”  He goes on to explain that it will take an eternity for Him to demonstrate His love for us, because it is so immeasurable.  Perhaps He knew it would be hard for us to accept this “gooder than good” deal because He ends by reassuring us that it is a totally free gift, and doesn’t depend on anything we can do to try to earn it. (Ephesians 2:5-8)

Perhaps you’ve heard about God’s “gooder than good” deal and looked into it, only to be turned off by some church’s demands that you dress a certain way, avoid certain activities, music, people etc.  Or maybe the list of religious duties you were expected to perform choked off your enthusiasm, proving once again that good deals are just too good to be true.

Take a second look at God’s offer.  It’s really free and there is no fine print attached, no matter how much religious people try to add it.  God loves you and offers you His free gift of abundant life and a wonderful destiny in Him.  All you have to do is say “Yes!”

Come join us this Sunday at 9:00 AM or 11:00 AM as our guest speaker Mark Tubbs addresses “Discovering Your Destiny.”