I Am a God of Grace
Dear Champions,
The short excerpt is by Tim Keller of New York City, and the scripture is 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
God had come to Abraham and said, "I'm going to save the world through one of your descendants." That means that in every generation, one person will bear the messianic seed. "My salvation will come into the world through one member of everyone in your generation." But look at how God does it.
Here's Abram, and look at the women by his side. Here's Sarai who is old and barren, and here is Hagar who is beautiful and fertile. God blesses the world through Sarai. Go to the next generation. Here's Essau who is ruddy, handsome, big, macho, athletic, charismatic, dynamic, and a leader, but instead God saves through Jacob. Then go down a little further. Here's Rachael, and here's Leah. Rachael is beautiful and the apple of Jacob's eye. Leah is homely, marginal, rejected, and unwanted, and God comes to Leah and gives her Judah, the ancestor of Jesus. Leah becomes the mother of Jesus. Are you getting this? The Leah's, the marginal, the outsider, the weak, the failure, is always the mother of Jesus. Let's keep going. Look at all of the nations of the world that God could choose to bring in salvation and truth. What does He do? He chooses Israel. Why? It has no economic clout, no natural resources, and no military power.
Why does God do it that way? Why does He always choose the poor, the marginal, the outsider, never the religious, never the insider, and never the upstanding? Why? Because He is a God of grace, and the world doesn't believe that. He has to over and over again hit the world over the head. "I am a God of grace, and salvation comes not by you but by me.
Champions, have a great week!-David Vining
Posts
