Something for Nothing

How many times have you heard someone say that they received something for free? I have contended all my adult years that basically nothing of this world is really free.  A free chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A is really not free. While you may not have paid for it, someone or some entity had to pay for it.

I have observed over the years that no matter how poor or wealthy an individual may be, everyone likes to get something without having to pay for it.

This morning I left my mother’s rural home and saw one of her neighbors picking up aluminum cans on the side of the road. This individual is retired, and his wife is still working. They are not poor and needy enough to be gathering aluminum cans—oh, and by the way, this neighbor just purchased a $60,000 pickup. So why was he picking up cans, I asked. “Just getting something for nothing,” was his reply.

While living in West Africa, I purchased and gifted bicycles to a couple of young men. Our agreement was that they would use their bikes to go to villages twice a week to gather crowds to sit under a mango tree to listen to the Bible in their own language.

The first time one of the bikes had a flat tire, the young man came to me and said, "Larry, YOUR bicycle has a flat tire!" That experience taught me a lesson that shaped our years of living in this desolate place at the edge of the Sahara Desert.  Giving things away was not a good practice.

I began bartering and practiced getting something in return for almost everything that I gave someone. I would not refuse to give food to anyone who was hungry, but I would ask for chicken or guinea eggs in exchange for a rooster or a rabbit. I would get an onion for handful of seed from even the poorest villager. All the things I received in the bartering would be gifted to destitute villagers.

I began this epistle by saying that nothing in this world is really free. My ninety-one-year-old mother heard me say this and corrected me: “Air is free.” I stand corrected.

I must choose my words carefully because there is something that is out of this world that really is free—God’s grace. Take a deep breath. That’s a gift of God. Your next breath also comes from God. And, as my mother says, “Air is free!”