Free Gift?

Listening to a sermon, I started thinking about God's gift of salvation. The person speaking referred to it as a free gift. That expression really irritated me.  I did much thinking, and this is my conclusion

I can honestly say that I have never given or received a free gift.  All gifts cost someone something.  Every gift requires some form of sacrifice.  That's the whole point.  You give a gift to someone so that they don't have to pay for it.  You give a gift to let people know that you love them so much that you don't want them to pay for it.  Even those cheesy gifts you get from department stores cost someone something.  And I'm not talking about the free* gifts.

The gift of Salvation is no exception.  In fact of all the gifts ever given, it is the most expensive by far.  What it cost both the Father and the Son are unthinkable.  Of course it cost much physical pain, which is where most of us would draw the line at giving a gift to an ordinary person.  It cost the Father turning His back on His beloved Son.  It cost the Son watching His Father turn His back, a sight He had never seen.  He was separated from the Father for the first time, which caused Him unthinkable anguish.

What is free about that?  Nothing.  Nothing at all.  Perhaps "all expenses paid" is a better way to describe it.  It is a gift, yes.  It is given to us so that it costs us nothing, but free is something that I can never call it.

I hope I never overlook exactly how much that "free" gift cost.

Anna