day 1350: Implied Free?

“Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.”

It used to be that if you wanted to access the internet in an airport that you had to pay for it through services like Boingo, or T-Mobile, AT&T, etc.  You can still pay for that internet access if you want, or you can access it through what I call, “Implied Free”.  Implied free is telling the consumer that something is free, but it isn’t really.  In the case of airport internet access, you watch an ad and then you get a half-hour or so, and then you can watch the same ad again, and get another half hour or so. And on and on it goes. It seems free, but it’s not because we have taken our time to look at the ad and distract ourselves from doing something else. What is the cost to us? It’s the cost of what we could/would be doing otherwise.  “Implied free” is not new.  Broadcast media was built this way and we now see the same for the “implied free” of ad supported streaming entertainment services.  We are just a moment away from walking into a coffee shop and receiving what appears to be an “implied free” cup of coffee, but we will have to show that we watched the ad, tweeted or create a Facebook status about being in the store and trying the coffee.  I personally don’t mind “implied free”. It feels active and full of choices.  If we can find the goodness in the approach, there is much we can do and have our consumers and customers join in to help.

Believing in Jesus is free.  Following Him is not.  Jesus never implied otherwise. To follow Jesus, as He asks us to do, comes with a cost. That cost is giving up ourselves and the ways of the world for Him. It means that if we are going to receive the full abundance of what He has to offer, that we have to empty out those things in our lives that are filling us up and getting in the way.  As we know, it’s all worth it and more!

Reference: John 16:24 (New Living Translation)