I’ve seen many of those credit card commercials where the cost of particular items was listed then something very nebulous like “a happy home – priceless.” The writers of those commercials are not giving anything away and they are indeed good salesman. They are telling us that the way to have a happy home is to 
have the things preceding them with price tags on them and using their credit card to get them. That’s pretty creative advertising. I’ve had several people tell me indirectly and even directly, that I’d make a good salesman. I’m not sure whether that’s an insult or a compliment, but regardless, I don’t think of myself as a salesman. I’ve never considered myself as a salesman primarily because I have nothing to sell. There is no price tag whatsoever on what God offers us, and I don’t want others to see any kind of price-tag on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Salvation is absolutely free. I want to be a bearer of good news – “The Good News: Christ die for our sins according to the Scriptures and rose again on the third day…” Truly, this is the only thing that’s perfectly “priceless.”
It can’t be bought for cash, checks or credit cards. Money can’t buy it. All the good works in the world can’t earn it and there is absolutely nothing in the world we can do to deserve it. You can’t inherit it. You can’t win it in a popularity contest. It’s not an award that’s handed out at a banquet. God does not barter with us! He will never bargain! If we’re going to do any business with God, it will be on His terms and on His terms alone. The best things in life aren’t things at all. The best things in life are indeed free, but the absolute best thing in life is absolutely free. Max Lucado put it this way: “He holds in His omnipotent hand the priceless, precious, eternal gift of salvation, and He bids you to take it without money and without price. The best things in life are free, are they not? The air we breathe is not sold by the cubic foot. The water which flows crystal clear from the mountain stream is free for the taking. Love is free, faith is free, and hope is free.”
It’s all a free gift! It’s all of Grace. One of our favorite hymns goes like this: Wonderful grace of Jesus, greater than all my sin; how shall my tongue describe it, where shall its praise begin? Taking away my burden, setting my spirit free, for the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me. Wonderful grace of Jesus, reaching to all the lost, by it I have been pardoned, saved to the uttermost; chains have been torn asunder, giving me liberty, for the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me. Wonderful grace of Jesus, reaching the most defiled, by its transforming power making him God’s dear child, purchasing peace and heaven for all eternity—and the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me. Chorus: Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus, deeper than the mighty rolling sea; higher than the mountain, sparkling like a fountain, all sufficient grace for even me; broader than the scope of my transgressions, greater far than all my sin and shame; O magnify the precious name of Jesus, praise His name!
Chuck
“Don’t you believe that all are saved the same way, by the free gift of the Lord Jesus?” Acts 15:11 (LB)