Do you, like me, find that it is easier to give than to receive? It's almost an embarrassment when we are offered something for nothing; there must be a catch! We haven't done anything to deserve the gift so why are we being offered it?

Our younger daughter, Claire, worships at a Vineyard Church in Nottingham. As part of their evangelism programme, occasionally teams go into the centre of Nottingham on Saturday mornings. In order to engage the shoppers in conversation, they give out bars of chocolate. Some people just walk on by, some stop and listen for a while and then walk on, while others stop, listen - and accept the chocolate!

One Saturday, Claire was on the team and a lady stopped. She was offered the chocolate but the lady said, "Oh no, it's for the children, give it to them". Claire explained that the chocolate was a free gift to anyone who wished to receive it. It wasn't for the young, or the old, but for everyone. From there, Claire was able to witness to this lady (I don't know if the lady accepted the free gift).

As the chocolate was free, so is God's gift of grace and forgiveness. It isn't just for the young, or for the old but for everyone. We don't have to earn God's grace, we just have to accept it. He loves us so much that He gives it to anyone who asks. We certainly don't deserve it. As it says in the book by Philip Yancey, What's So Amazing About Grace?, 'there is nothing we can do to make God love us more and nothing we can do to make God love us less'. He loves us just as we are. The one thing He does ask is that, once we have accepted this wonderful free gift, we go and tell others about it. I'm sure that some of the people who received the free chocolate told others!