The Music That Couldn't Be Sold

In 1979, Christian musician Keith Green made a decision that baffled the music industry. At the height of his popularity, with albums climbing the charts, he announced that his music would no longer be sold. Anyone who wanted his records could have them — pay what you can, or pay nothing at all. "You don't sell the gospel," he told his bewildered record label.

The cost was staggering. Green and his wife Melody absorbed tens of thousands of dollars in production and mailing costs. The industry called it financial suicide. Friends urged him to reconsider. But Green had read the words of Jesus — "Freely you have received; freely give" — and he couldn't shake them loose.

He didn't stop there. He and Melody opened their home to dozens of people struggling with addiction and poverty, eventually founding Last Days Ministries, a community where broken people could find healing. Every dollar that could have padded his accounts went back out the door.

Keith Green died in a plane crash in 1982. He was twenty-eight years old. He left behind no fortune, no estate to speak of — just music that had reached millions precisely because he refused to hold it with a closed fist.

Sacrifice rarely makes sense to onlookers. It didn't make sense when a young carpenter from Nazareth poured out His life for people who hadn't asked for it. But the Almighty has never measured generosity the way accountants do. He measures it by what it cost the giver — and by how freely it was given.