Topic: A Gift You Can't Earn

A man once paid a stranger's hospital bill secretly. Weeks later, the stranger found him, insisting on paying it back. The man gently refused. "If you repay me," he said, "it stops being a gift. Let me have the joy of just giving it."

Some people find it hard to receive things they can't repay — including grace from God. But grace only works one way: it's given freely, not earned.

This doesn't mean effort doesn't matter in following Jesus — it does, but as a response to grace, not a payment for it. You're not working to be accepted. You're working from already being accepted.