The water's fine

I believe one of the hardest things for me to accept about Christianity is that it's free. To make matters worse it compounds that by saying that anything you attempt to do is as menstrual rags...no matter how "good" we think it is. One of the stories that, to me, illustrates this well is the story of Naaman in the bible. See, Naaman had it all. He was a man of valor and blessed. His servants appeared to actually love him. There was one small detail in his life that was not really considered good, he had leprosy.

Naaman was told of a great prophet that could cleanse him. He approached his king and letters were written and a road trip was planned. He grabbed gobs of money and fine clothes for a gift and eventually visited Elisha. When he arrived, Elisha didn't even see him in person but sent instructions for him to wash 7 times in the Jordan river. You probably already know the story.

The part I really like is the indignation of Naaman at the proposed solution. He brought pounds and pounds of gold and silver, but the solution would merely cost him some trust and potentially humiliation. Doubt had to be prevalent.

It's the same with grace, isn't it? You can't one up Jesus by offering him a "fair" trade for it. It's priced the same for everyone...free. The catch is you have to believe and that may seem humiliating for some...

The waters fine, come on in!