In most cases, there is a purpose for buying someone free coffee. Not a caveat, catch or string, just a purpose. For my purpose, the only reasons I would buy something for someone I didn’t know are:

a) random act of kindness
b) starting a conversation
c) all of the above

But if this lucky guy finishes his drink and doesn’t want to have anything to do with me, that’s fine. I buy the drink with the hope that we can talk, not the requirement that we must talk.

God has given us the best free gift ever: an eternal life with him. So what’s the catch? Get this: there isn’t one! Christians try to formulate those caveats, catches and strings because they don’t fully understand the meaning of “free.”

“The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life.” John Piper describes that to mean that we can have one of two masters: sin-master or God-master. Put our allegiance in sin and Satan, and he will pay us for our deeds. That payment is death. But God has a free gift, which we can ourselves do nothing to acquire. It cost God a GREAT deal (he had to sacrifice his own son), and so it certainly wasn’t free for him, but it is free for us. He gives us eternal life with no strings, but like me sharing free drinks, he has a purpose.

God gives us eternal life so that we will glorify and worship him. But if we choose not to receive his gift, then we choose sin-master and death instead. God gives us eternal life with the divine hope that we will receive it, not the requirement that we must receive it. (Reformists believe that God’s grace is irresistible, and so we as mortal humans aren’t able to decide for ourselves to receive eternal life; he also makes that decision for us. That’s a different perspective than what I personally tend to believe.)

Yes, IMHO, things in life can be free. The best things in life are free… (sorry, couldn’t resist). So now maybe you can go and buy someone a coffee or drink, or even pay for their meal. When they start looking for strings, you know what to do. :P