More Than a Sample (Friday Devotional)

 And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

- Ephesians 3:17-19

One of the annoying effects of the pandemic has been the loss of free samples at the grocery store. Pre-COVID, one of the best things about any trip to Kroger or Tom Thumb (one of the few things that made such trips more tolerable on busy shopping days) was stopping by a manned display and seeing what free food they had to offer.

Sometimes the sample is a piece of cheese on a toothpick, other times some salsa in a plastic ramekin—if you’re lucky, occasionally they may even pass out something heartier like a meatball. But these free samples serve a distinct purpose for the store besides making customers a little happier while they shop. Samples offer shoppers a free taste so that they will then pony up their money for more. After all, man cannot live on free samples alone—if you want to make a meal out of what they’re offering, you’ll have to pay the price.

There is a deeply rooted misconception in our world that God’s love is given to us the way a free sample is—not as a true gift, but as a means to get you to pay up. Our insecurities and fear tell us that God’s grace is limited, that He loves us only to a certain point. Maybe He loves certain people more—“super Christians” who never seem to make any mistakes—but surely not me.

This could not be further from the truth, which is that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. His love is not a means to an end, but is the end in and of itself—God sent His Son as an act of grace, an undeserved gift of salvation. God doesn’t love you up to a certain point. He loves you, full stop.

In a world where affection must so often be earned, where you are having to constantly prove yourself, there is something so reassuring—so gracious—about how deeply our Father loves His children. God’s love is no free sample—it’s a feast that will sustain you for eternity.