May 04, 2025 Martha's Musings

TV advertisements are just about to get the best of me. My sweet spouse laughs at me when I “talk back” to the TV. No one seems to grasp the meaning of the word “free”. Take, for instance, the phrase “free gift”. The gift mentioned is only available after certain items are purchased. Those “items” are the free gift. Hmmm. Also, the fun concept of “free shipping” seems to be a confusing point for the advertising community. Upon reading the fine print, the customer learns that what the large print giveth, the fine print taketh away. (Shipping is free ONLY if a certain amount of product is purchased.) Who do we believe? What is a person to do? Can the truth be found ANYWHERE? Fortunately for mankind, the only truth that matters really is free and available to all. Scripture, the actual word of God, has everything one needs to know to attain salvation. There is nothing that needs to be purchased, as the price to have the option of gaining heaven has been prepaid. And everything promised in the large print is still available after one reads the fine print. The words found in Scripture are always the same, despite attempts by misguided individuals to “fix” them to blend in with their modern, albeit sinful, ideas. Perhaps John Wesley said it best: “Man changes for Scripture. Scripture does not change for man.” And PTL for that! Where would we be without the truths which comprise the foundation of the Christian faith? Probably not in church celebrating Easter, the holiday which showcases all the effort that Our Creator went through to offer mankind the gift of salvation. This gift is “free” to us, should we choose to take advantage of it. Christ died a horrid death on the cross to pay the
price for our salvation centuries before we were ever born. Nothing is pending, no signatures or key codes need be applied for us to attain salvation. Should we be blessed enough to arrive before God at the pearly gates, He will not request anything further from us. “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” is all we need to hear. It is all that matters.

Happy Easter to all,
Martha Arizpe, St. John’s Prayer Team