It was with some amazement that I walked through the doors of the Business Class lounge at Istanbul Airport. This was a world I had never before entered, and I was only doing so on this occasion because someone else had paid for my ticket. It was a place of abundant luxury with a never-ending supply and variety of free food and drink. The desert table was a mouth-watering display of the most delicious cakes and pastries I had ever seen assembled in one place. My four hour stop-over passed all too quickly and it is the only time I have ever been tempted to deliberately miss a flight!
It reminded me of something that the Bible says about the extravagant generosity of God, that counters the oft assumed belief that God is a mean-spirited spoilsport. Speaking through the prophet Isaiah God issues this invitation: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”
The extravagance of the Business Class lounge was made available to me because someone else paid the price of my entry, and the Bible says the riches of God are also freely available to those who come to Him, because the price of entry has been paid by Jesus.