God of Life

There's no such thing as a free lunch. And we're living in a world where you increasingly don't even own the things you've already bought. 

Everything today requires a subscription. Everything has a QR code to scan. You need an account set up to partake of the world. Everything seems to be behind a firewall, a paywall, or a little red asterisk noting "required field." You have to trade your privacy for something so simple as a cheeseburger these days. 

And then, just for funsies, pick out every picture that includes a fire hydrant to prove you're not a robot. 

You can't even go to the grocery store any more without a reward card and a digital coupon and two pieces of mail with your address on them. (Wait...I might be confusing the grocery store and the BMV...but only a little.) 

The point is - everything has a tether to it. Everything has a catch. We are so programmed to believe that everything has a catch that if something is actually, truly free, we can't believe it. 

Well, believe this: 

The water of life from God is free. 

Always has been. Always will be. 

Remember the woman at the well? Jesus asked her to draw him a drink, then told her that if she had asked Him, He would have given her living water...and all of a sudden, she wanted that. She wanted the water that would keep her from having to come back to the well. 

This is the water that He gives to you and me. 

It's in the closing words of the Bible as we know it, in the final chapters of God's revelation to John about just what the end of all things looks like. 

Actually, it's in there twice. 

To the thirsty, I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life (21:6) and Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life (22:17). 

This is not entirely a new idea. See, for God, life has always been free. In the beginning, He created the garden with two trees, one of which was the Tree of Life. And from this tree, Adam and Eve were allowed - even encouraged - to freely eat. 

Then, there was a fruit. And a serpent. And a sin. And a curse. Followed by a couple of angels with flaming swords and banishment east of Eden. 

But the waters kept flowing. The same waters that nourished the Tree of Life kept running toward the oceans, kept running through slavery and the exile and the aqueducts that Hezekiah built. Kept running through the Promised Land...kept running through the Promise. 

And in the final pages of Scripture, those waters are flowing in the New Jerusalem, in the restored heaven, where the flaming angels have been released and there is, once more, a Tree of Life, bearing fruit in every season - twelve different kinds of fruit, abundant life for every brother and sister - and we're right back at the beginning where all things started and where things were "very good"...

Life...is free. For anyone thirsty for it. 

I'm thirsty. How about you?