In high school, I had the opportunity to be involved on a
debate team. At one of the events intended to help us be better at research and
delivery we had a session with the title, T.A.N.S.T.A.A.F.L.. It was a fascinating
session! It stands for “There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.”
In much of the political arguments offered today we hear a
lot about what people think they should get for free, college, health care,
retirement, etc. It is always been interesting to me to hear a candidate
actually say how they would pay for the benefits they are proposing.
The point of this blog post though isn’t political, it is
spiritual. There are 2 obvious ways this applies to us:
1.
Satan offers sin, and sells it as free. Simply
put, Satan says it really isn’t that bad, or it isn’t a big deal. Feel free to do
whatever you want and you will be happy. Anytime we disobey our creator,
savior, and friend there are consequences. These may not be immediate, Adam and
Eve didn’t die instantly, but the consequences were very real. Sin destroys our
peace with God and our relationships with others.
2.
The second idea would be the other side of the
coin. We want to be holy, spiritual, etc. but we don’t want to put in the
effort. Just like sin isn’t free, neither is holiness. I am not talking about
positional holiness, we get that at the point of salvation, I am talking about
practical holiness. Last night while we are vacationing at Carrie’s parents
farm, I was able to stream the Lions game if my phone was in about a 3 foot
area of the house. I could either choose to remain there and watch the game or
I could move and the steam would freeze. This is how spiritual blessings work.
We can either go to the area that God says He will bless or we can go somewhere
else and not get those blessing. God doesn’t change for us, we change for Him.
But too often we aren’t that motivated to stay there, we get distracted and
chase after the things of this life. I hear Christians refer to the times of
great spiritual blessings as past tense, or even like a fairy tale. We need to
be willing give up the things of this world for the things of the next.
Practical holiness isn’t free but it is worth every penny!
Nothing in life is free, so let’s get to work and accomplish
something for the cause of Christ!
