After I shared about a hybrid workshop that I recently organized, someone asked whether she needed to pay an entry fee. I replied “it is free!” It was free because National Research Foundation (South Africa) provided the fund that was used to pay for the workshop venue including catering for 40 delegates that attended physically. It was free because the convener and facilitators took it upon themselves to set time aside to plan and prepare for the event. In essence, nothing in life is really free, somebody or a group of people must have paid for it. Salvation for example is free because Jesus paid with His blood on the Cross of Calvary. Someone has said, “Salvation is free but not cheap.” It cost Jesus His life. It will cost us as well if we decide to follow Christ because discipleship is always costly. There is an example of Bill Borden who turned his back on one of America’s great family fortunes to become a missionary to China during the early years of the twentieth century. Bill only got as far as Egypt where, he died of typhoid fever. Before his death he wrote, “No reserves, no retreats, no regrets!” He was in his twenties. However, for majority of us following Christ won’t cost us our lives. But it will still cost us. It will cost us our time, plans, our wills, and our selfish desires. We will need to completely surrender to Christ and freely give to others from what we have received from Him!
Being a Christian involves a lifetime of hard work, dedicated study and difficult decisions. Billy Graham
