ME-ssentials – Forgiven – Day Twelve
ESSENTIALS for Me to Be: FORGIVEN
September 12th, 2021
What’s your ESSENTIAL?
Essential: absolutely necessary; indispensable; the essence of a thing; inherent and intrinsic, vital
John 3:16-18, ‘This is how much God loved the world: He gave His Son, His one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in Him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending His Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in Him is acquitted, anyone who refuses to trust Him has long since been under a death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to Him.’ (MSG)
Romans 3:22-25, ‘The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in Him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity He put us in right standing with Himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where He always wanted us to be. And He did it by means of Jesus Christ. God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear the world of sin. Having faith in Him sets us in the clear!’ (MSG)
God so loved us, He gave. He gave a one-of-a-kind gift, something priceless and irreplaceable to Him. He gave, for me. His Son, His only Son. Not a token, a reminder, a flourishing bush of roses, a stuffed animal teddy bear with a huge perfect bow around its neck, not a balloon with a greeting scrawled across it, ‘I love you so much, I am giving you this balloon so you’ll never forget’, not an invitation for dinner or a cake-and-ice-cream party. He gave the best He had to give, the death of His Son on a cross so the invitation could be not about one dinner but about forever, eternity with Him. When I spell it out for myself in these terms, I am speechless. I cannot wrap my mind around the expansiveness, the massive gravity, of what God was saying to me, and to you, when He gave His Son up for us. God so loved us, He gave. Let that sink in.
We must start at the beginning. We find the God of the Universe just speaking things into existence. We find a dark and empty void that His Spirit is hovering over, and suddenly the God Almighty commences creating. He brushes stars across the sky, pours water over land, blinks light to flush out darkness, and begins breathing His breath into deflated lungs and dry bones, to make me which He manifested from spit and some dirt. He rested to observe His handiwork and kept on creating, making a beautiful world for us to abide in. And we diminished it, destroyed it and each other, used it in a manner it wasn’t meant to be used, and through our disobedience, we built a barrier between us and the Father who so greatly just wanted to hang with you and with me.
He didn’t throw His hands up in despair though, shake His head in frustration, stomp His feet in anger, walk away because He could. No, He didn’t do any of that. God so loved, He gave. His one and only Son so that I might live. His heart beat for me, my name was on His lips, He buried my shame in the nailprints in His palms, He signed for my debt and wrote His name in blood when He ransomed me.
What’s even more baffling is He didn’t send me a bill, a past due notice, a reminder of what He did for me with a short amount of time to try to pay Him back. He didn’t come to me and say, ‘I gave my Son, so now you give yours’. He even went so far as to tell me it is a free gift, so a double reminder that what He did for me was done with no strings attached, since, you know, gifts are free, and if its free, that means it’s a gift. He doesn’t tap me on the shoulder every time I am considering misbehaving or when I’ve flubbed up; ‘Uh hum, let Me remind you, child, what your mistake cost Me’ or ‘I can’t believe you just did that! Do you have any idea what I paid for you to get out of that mess?!’ Nope. Instead He gently whispers my name and nudges me back to Him when I have strayed, beckoning me with His grace when I need to accept His forgiveness for a reckless choice, wrapping me in His love when the world has flattened me with its hatred and hostility, its mercilessness and animosity. When its taken all of me and then some, He welcomes me back, never asking where I’ve been and why, because He knows, and He loves me anyway.
It is essential for me to be, to know I am, forgiven.
God so loved me, He gave.
