Not a drop, but lavished
Paul in the letter to the Ephesian church opens with a wonderfully beautiful and compelling account of what is our when we are united with Christ through belief in him. There is adoption, inheritance, an ontology of (being) holy and blameless, salvation and sealing by the Spirit.
And this: "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us..." (Ephesians 1:7-8).
We love the redemption, the forgiveness of sin, and we love that it comes according to the riches of his grace. But we don't get "lavished."
In fact we kind of live like we think we are only given drops of grace or sprinkles of it, when we need it... because we are doing quite well thank you! Viewed this way grace becomes something of a niche, a nice little category that "new" Christians should cling to but not something of much value down the road.
But our redemption, forgiveness, inheritance, being chosen, being sealed, being made holy and blameless; it all has to do with this grace that God lavishes upon us. It is a John write, wave upon wave of grace (Jn. 1:16). Let's hear a definition: "bestow something in generous or extravagant quantities upon." So this is what God does to us with grace. He bestows grace to us (which gives us every spiritual blessing) in generous or extravagant quantities.
This is huge. Grace is lavished on you... you are overflowing with God's grace in Christ. All the grim faces and restless struggle... and you don't realize how you have been lavished with grace.
And it is past tense - kind of like "it is finished." It is done... nothing to earn. No way to acquire more grace because it has already be abundantly, extravagantly poured over you redeeming and forgiving, making you something you were not before, his.
I need to know this better. I need to embrace it more. Maybe you do too.
And this: "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us..." (Ephesians 1:7-8).
We love the redemption, the forgiveness of sin, and we love that it comes according to the riches of his grace. But we don't get "lavished."
In fact we kind of live like we think we are only given drops of grace or sprinkles of it, when we need it... because we are doing quite well thank you! Viewed this way grace becomes something of a niche, a nice little category that "new" Christians should cling to but not something of much value down the road.
But our redemption, forgiveness, inheritance, being chosen, being sealed, being made holy and blameless; it all has to do with this grace that God lavishes upon us. It is a John write, wave upon wave of grace (Jn. 1:16). Let's hear a definition: "bestow something in generous or extravagant quantities upon." So this is what God does to us with grace. He bestows grace to us (which gives us every spiritual blessing) in generous or extravagant quantities.
This is huge. Grace is lavished on you... you are overflowing with God's grace in Christ. All the grim faces and restless struggle... and you don't realize how you have been lavished with grace.
And it is past tense - kind of like "it is finished." It is done... nothing to earn. No way to acquire more grace because it has already be abundantly, extravagantly poured over you redeeming and forgiving, making you something you were not before, his.
I need to know this better. I need to embrace it more. Maybe you do too.
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