Luke 7: 41-43
Jesus said, "There was a certain creditor who had two debtors.  One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.  And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both.  Tell Me. thereforeh, which of them will love him more?"  Simon answered and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more."
 
 
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The first thing to understand about the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that we are all sinners.  We all owe a sin-debt.  When we understand the vastness of our sin and run to Christ for salvation, we will love him more.  When we don't see our sin as severe before a Holy God, we don't appreciate the gift.
 
The second point that I want to make is that although salvation is free for us, it wasn't free for Jesus.  Pastor John MacArthur said, " What makes it so generous is any time somebody forgives a debt, they themselves incur that debt in full. If I lend you 500 denarii and you can't pay and I say, "I forgive that," then now I've incurred that debt completely. That debt is now mine. The cost is transferred to me. I pay. And that's...to understand that is to get an insight into the forgiveness of God. And when God forgave your sins, He then incurred the debt and Jesus Christ died to pay it. The debt doesn't go away. It still has to be paid, but the forgiver incurs it and pays it. So it's not just forgiveness and it's done, it's forgiveness and then the debt is transferred to the forgiver."
 
Thanks be to God for the wonderful gift of salvation available through Jesus Christ!