Where I have hallway duty, the media center specialist has been placing library carts of books that are being phased out of the system – free for kids to take and keep. The carts went untouched for a couple of days until one small boy asked me, “What do those books cost?”

“Nothing,” I replied. “They’re free.”

At this point, the boy scrambled to find his friends informing them that, “There are free books for sale over here!”

In a matter of minutes, dozens of kids had swarmed the library carts, poring over the available books, making recommendations to each other, looking for the perfect book to take themselves. I’ve lost count of how many carts have been emptied since.

Ephesians 2:8 and Romans 6:22-23 both tell us of a gift of salvation freely available to us through Christ. There is no way we could have ever payed the price for such a thing ourselves, so He has paid it for us — freely offering it to us through grace.

In John 7:37-38, Jesus invites those who thirst for spiritual sustenance to come to Him, and, in Revelation 21:4-7, God proclaims that the water of life will be freely available to all those who make Him their God.

What will we do with this free gift? My young student was eager to claim his gift, and he wanted to share it with others so that they might also take advantage of the “free books for sale.” Will we accept Christ’s free gift? If we’ve done so, will we be willing to share it with others?