"Something for nothing"—that is almost the motto of our generation. Something for nothing—a super bargain, a "steal" to get as much as you can while giving as little as possible—how pleased we are!
But to give "something" and receive "nothing," well, now, that's another matter.
A surprising illustration of that occurred when a radio announcer asked his listeners to send twenty-dollar checks to the station without saying what he would do with the money.
The next day, 4,000 checks for twenty dollars each arrived in the mail. Another 5,000 checks followed. The stunned announcer, Ron Chapman, said, "We never promised anybody anything! We're flabbergasted!"
Even when he went on the air to say, "Don't send any more checks!" the checks still came in. The total received by the radio station came to nearly a quarter of a million dollars.
$250,000 for what? For nothing. Nothing was promised, nothing was given. The check senders did not get something for nothing, they gave something for nothing. That's a very different matter, isn't it?
They are not the only ones!
That is, why are you throwing away your time on "pleasures... for a season," giving your life, the only life you have, for things that cannot last. When that life is gone, what will you have left? Nothing? Will you have given something everything for nothing?
There is a better way! That same chapter in Isaiah says, "Come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price."
That is truly getting something for nothing!
In fact, the salvation God offers you cannot be bought. It is free, all free! It is a gift: "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23).
You do not buy a gift; you only receive it thankfully receive it. "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift." 2 Cor. 9:1515Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. (2 Corinthians 9:15).