Just Accept It - That's All You Need To Do

I remember when I visited Egypt. I spent the month of February, 2008, with three friends and we toured several places. I loved my time there, and it was such a surreal feeling to be standing in front of the pyramids, to visit the temples and tombs, and sail down the Nile.

One thing that is quite common over there, is the abundance of people (usually men) trying to sell you souvenirs, etc. The country is quite poor, so you can't fault them for trying to make a living. But, everywhere we went, someone was always shouting out for us to come and buy something from them. In several places, like at the pyramids, you would find men (and lots of times children as well), carrying around several items trying to sell them to make a pound (their currency is the Egyptian pound, but they also use and accept the American dollar).

While at the pyramids, one man approached us with cute little glass images (set of 3) of the pyramids - think paperweights. He approached T and said to her, "Here, it's a gift for you." She took it, thinking that is was really nice of him to offer her a gift for no reason. She started to walk on after thanking him, but he followed right along and tugged her arm. "It's a gift for you. Now you give me a gift. Maybe _____." (fill in the blank with a dollar amount). So, as it turns out, it really wasn't a gift. He was using that method to get the person to accept the item he wanted to sell, then once they had it in their possession, he would request to be paid for the item.

Thankfully, God is not like that. In Romans 6:23 we read, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (bold and italics are my addition).

Salvation is not earned. God has freely given it to us in the form of His Son - Jesus Christ. We don't have to pay (in actuality, we CAN'T do this) to be saved. All we need to do is believe and profess that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died for our sins (he sacrificed His life so we could live), and rose the third day.

God gives us His gift; He doesn't demand to be paid for it - not prior to giving it, not after giving it. All we need to do is accept His gift. He's not going to follow after us, tug at our arms and demand us to give him a "gift" in exchange for eternal life. The truth of the matter is, the price has already been paid in full - with Jesus' death and resurrection. Jesus paid the price for our sins on the cross.

All you need to do, is just accept God's gift to you. That's it.