1009) The internet can be a dangerous thing, so I think it’s appropriate to call it The Wild, Wild Web. I have experienced dangers many times. For example, I have received emails from my banking/credit card institutions that look authentic, but they are not. I have had “Ransomware” messages informing me that the writer “knows” which sordid websites I have been visiting and if I don’t pay them their specified amount, they would send this information on to every contact I have. These things that “freely” come to us are not free; there is a huge price attached.

Because of this, when we are offered “free” things, we may automatically reject them without giving them consideration. Asking what’s the catch isn’t a bad thing as long as consideration follows. In Romans 15:5, God offers his children two “free” things: endurance and encouragement.

The word endurance used here in the Greek is hupomoné which means “unswervable”. This means that I can be patient in my endurance of the trying things this life brings. Why can I be patient? Because God is using whatever I”m going through in the moment to strengthen me, help others or encouraging me to look forward to the next life when these things won’t exist.

The word for encouragement in the Greek is paraklesis which embraces consolation and comfort. I picture a small child who has fallen and scraped his knee. He is crying in his mother’s arms and she is consoling and comforting him. God freely promises this to his children if we’ll come to him.

Though it may be imprudent to accept “free” offers from many on this earth, we ought to accept the ones God gives us. Refusing or ignorance of these gifts results in a life that is harder than it already is. They’re resources God has made available to us if we’ll accept them.