I love the surprising, out-of-the-box kind of grace that characterizes our God! Whenever this theme of Scripture pops up in my reading, as it did today, I have to stop and marvel once again. God loves to break society's assumptions of who is the right type of person to be used by Him. Think of Bathsheba (an adulteress), Ruth (a Gentile), Rahab (a prostitute), and Tamar (seduced her father-in-law), all of whom God chose to include in the line of His Son, the Messiah Jesus!
Luke 4:25-28 were the verses that jumped out to me today. Jesus essentially says that His Grace is for outsiders! Both Naaman the Syrian and the widow of Zarephath were Gentiles to whom God showed special favor during a time when Israel was under judgment. When Jesus reminded His Jewish audience of these examples of God's grace, they "were filled with rage." Why? Because they thought only they were special enough to deserve God's favor!
Talk about grace that amazes, grace that defies the status quo! You can't put it in a box, like Israel wanted to do or like we sometimes want to do in the church today. God's grace is given to the least likely, or even to those whom most would consider "foolish" (see 1 Cor. 1:27). I love it! How humbling yet, awe-inspiring -- that He would use even me!
No comments:
Post a Comment