Revelation 22:17

"Come!" Everyone who hears this should also say, "Come!" All who are thirsty may come; they can have the water of life as a free gift if they want it.

Jesus says, "take freely." He wants no payment or preparation. He doesn't ask us for positive emotions. Even if you don't have the right feelings, but are willing to come, you are invited, so come! Even if you have no belief and no repentance, come to him, and he will give them to you. Come just as you are, and take "Freely," without money and without price. He gives himself to needy ones. The drinking fountains at the corners of our streets are valuable institutions and we can hardly imagine any one so foolish as to get out his wallet, when he stands before one of them, and to cry, "I cannot drink because I don't have any money." However poor the man is, there is the fountain, and just as he is he may drink of it. Thirsty people, whether they are dressed in Salvation Army chic or in Paris fashions, do not question their right to drink. Its being there justifies their taking its water freely. When the liberality of good friends puts refreshment in crystal glasses, we take it, and ask no questions. Perhaps the only persons who need go thirsty through the street where there is a drinking fountain, are the fine ladies and gentlemen who are in their carriages. They are very thirsty, but cannot think of being so vulgar as to get out to drink. It would demean them, they think, to drink at a common drinking fountain: so they ride by with parched lips. Oh, how many there are who are rich in their own good works and cannot therefore come to Christ! "I will not be saved," they say, "in the same way as the harlot or the swearer." What! go to heaven in the same way as a chimney sweep. Is there no pathway to glory but the path which led the thief there? I will not be saved that way. Such proud boasters must remain without the living water; but, "Whosoever will, let him TAKE THE WATER OF LIFE FREELY."