The Free Cookie and the Grace of God: Learning to Receive by Faith

My daughter recently told me about a cookie shop giving away free thin cookies. Since we were already out getting pampered for her birthday, I decided we should stop by and get one together.

We walked into the store and found a short line of customers waiting for their freshly baked cookies. I looked around, noticed the self-service ordering station, and immediately pulled my daughter over to it.

Without anyone asking me to, I placed an order.

I spent twenty-five dollars on cookies I did not want and did not need.

Why?

Because somewhere in my mind, I had decided that I probably needed to buy something before I could ask for the free cookie. After placing the order for our unwanted cookies, we walked confidently to the counter and requested the free one.

We were paying customers now, after all. Surely, we deserved it.

The cashier quickly gave us our free cookie, and then we stood to the side waiting for the cookies we had unnecessarily purchased.

While we waited, a pleasant woman walked into the store. She went straight to the counter and said, “May I please have one of your free cookies?”

The cashier replied, “Of course. Which one would you like?”

The woman made her choice, received her cookie, and walked right back out.

I stood there stunned.

Flabbergasted.

And, quite honestly, feeling rather foolish.

I had just spent twenty-five dollars so I could feel comfortable asking for something the store had already announced it was giving away freely.

And immediately, I thought:

Isn’t this what many of us do with God? Trying to Qualify for a Free Gift

We often feel that we need to do something before we can confidently receive from God.

We believe we must pray long enough.

Fast often enough.

Give generously enough.

Serve faithfully enough.

Attend church consistently enough.

Avoid enough mistakes.

Then, perhaps, we will qualify for His approval, grace, mercy, favor, help, or pleasure.

We may not say this aloud, but our behavior reveals it.

We approach God more confidently after a “good” week than after a difficult one.

We believe our prayers carry more weight after we have performed well.

We feel more deserving of His help when we can point to everything we have done correctly.

Like me in the cookie shop, we want to become paying customers before requesting the free gift.

But grace does not work that way.

God Offered Before We Earned Anything

The gospel begins with what God did, not with what we did.

Before we knew Him, He loved us.

Before we could obey Him, He made a way for us.

Before we had a spiritual record to present, He gave us Jesus.

Scripture says:

“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”— Romans 8:32

God did not hold back the most precious Person to Him.

He gave His Son.

And if He gave us Christ before we had anything to offer, why do we now behave as though His goodness must be purchased through performance?

Grace, mercy, peace, favor, wisdom, and access to God do not begin with our deserving.

They begin with His giving.

Two Women, Two Mindsets

In the cookie shop, there were two very different mindsets.

My mindset was:

“I should buy something so I will deserve the free cookie.”

The other woman’s mindset was:

“The store said the cookie is free, so I will simply ask for it.”

She did not appear arrogant.

She did not demand.

She did not argue.

She simply trusted the offer.

That is faith.

Faith takes God at His Word.

It does not attempt to improve His offer.

It does not add conditions He never included.

It does not purchase what He has already given.

It simply receives.

The Two Sons in the Father’s House

The story of the prodigal son and his elder brother came immediately to mind.

The younger son understood that a portion of his father’s estate would eventually belong to him. His method was wrong. His timing was wrong. His desire for independence was destructive. But he understood something about his position in the family.

He knew he was a son.

He had no difficulty asking for what he believed was connected to that identity.

The elder brother had a very different mindset.

He remained at home.

He worked.

He served.

He obeyed outwardly.

Yet when his younger brother returned and the father celebrated, the elder brother became angry. He complained that he had worked faithfully for years, yet his father had never even given him a young goat to celebrate with his friends.

The father’s response was both heartwarming and heartbreaking:

“Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.”— Luke 15:31

In other words:

“You have been beside me all this time.”

“Did you not know who you were?”

“Did you not recognize the access you had?”

“Did you not know that what belonged to me was available to you?”

The elder brother had proximity without understanding.

He lived in the father’s house like a servant trying to earn what was already available to him as a son.

Working Without Receiving

Many believers live in this same tension.

We are in the Father’s house.

We attend church.

We serve.

We pray.

We give.

We do spiritual work.

Yet inwardly, we remain uncertain that we are loved, accepted, or welcome to receive.

We work for what can only be received.

And this is exhausting.

You cannot receive by works what God has chosen to deliver by grace through faith.

This does not mean good works are unimportant. Scripture clearly teaches us to obey God, serve people, grow in discipline, and live lives that reflect Christ.

But our works are a response to grace.

They are not a payment for it.

We do not obey so God will finally love us.

We obey because He already loves us.

We do not serve to purchase His favor.

We serve because His favor has transformed our hearts.

We do not pray to force open a closed door.

We pray because Jesus has already given us access to the Father.

The Rest That Comes With Sonship

There is a place of rest that comes when you finally understand that you do not have to earn God’s love.

You do not have to perform your way into His presence.

You do not have to jump through spiritual hoops before asking for help.

You do not have to become a “paying customer.”

You can come as a child.

Hebrews tells us:

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”— Hebrews 4:16

Notice where we are invited: The throne of grace.

Notice what we are told to do: Come boldly.

And notice what we receive there: Mercy and grace in the very moment we need them.

Boldness is not arrogance.

It is confidence in the goodness of the One who invited us.

Wholeness Requires Freedom From Performance

This truth also matters deeply in the journey toward wholeness.

A performance-based relationship with God creates stress in the soul.

You are constantly evaluating yourself.

Did I pray enough?

Was I disciplined enough?

Did I do enough to earn help?

Is God disappointed in me?

Will He withhold something because I failed?

That kind of spiritual striving affects more than your prayer life. It can produce anxiety, shame, exhaustion, and a constant sense of inadequacy.

But grace settles the soul.

When you know you are loved, you can repent without hiding.

When you know you are accepted, you can grow without self-condemnation.

When you know help is available, you can bring your weakness to God instead of pretending you do not have any.

Wholeness flourishes where grace is received.

The Same Mindset Appears in Wellness

We can even carry a performance mindset into our health journey.

We may believe we must punish ourselves before we deserve to feel well.

We overexercise because we ate something we regret.

We withhold food to compensate for an indulgent meal.

We speak harshly to ourselves because we missed a workout.

We believe suffering proves commitment.

But healthy living was never meant to become another system of earning worth.

You do not care for your body to become valuable.

You care for it because it is already valuable.

You do not pursue wellness so God will love you more.

You pursue wellness because you are already loved and want to steward what He has entrusted to you.

Grace does not eliminate discipline.

It changes the spirit in which discipline is practiced.

I Refuse to Live Like Either Brother

I do not want to be the prodigal son, using the Father’s gifts while rejecting relationship with Him.

But I also refuse to be the elder brother, living close to the Father while believing I must earn everything He has lovingly made available.

I choose another posture.

I choose to be the child who knows the Father is good.

The child who remains close.

The child who values relationship.

The child who recognizes access.

The child who receives gratefully and responds with love.

I choose to believe that God has given me everything I need for life and godliness.

I choose to believe He wants me to have and enjoy the life He has entrusted to me.

I choose to receive His gifts joyfully — not because I have earned them, but because He has freely given them.

Receive the Free Cookie

That little cookie shop gave my daughter and I much more than dessert.

It gave us a lesson in grace.

The offer was free.

The only requirement was to receive it.

I added a price the store had never demanded.

And I wonder how often we do the same with God.

Perhaps today, the Father is gently asking:

“Why are you trying to pay for what I already gave you?”

Stop trying to qualify for grace.

Stop working to become worthy of love.

Stop performing for access you already have in Christ.

Come boldly. Ask freely. Receive gratefully.

And let your obedience become the joyful response of a loved child — not the anxious labor of someone trying to earn a place in the Father’s house.

I love you,

Oyin.