In our quest to really live out God's best for us, I found a treasure of a teaching from Jeremy Pearsons that could not have come at a more appropriate time! It has inspired us to be extra vigilant to keep our mind renewed to what God has made available to us through the cross of Jesus. Having said that, I want to remind you today that whatever good things God has purposed and wants us to enjoy in this life, He has already provided and secured for us on the cross. Every covenant promise is a gift to us because of what Jesus accomplished over 2000 years ago. That means we can't acquire a promise by our own efforts or good works. No, every good and perfect promise is a gift of grace to us, and our appropriate response is to accept it with thankful hearts that are full of faith!
According to 1 Corinthians 6:20, "You were bought with a price [purchased with a preciousness and paid for, made His own]." This is a 'treasure truth' I want us to renew our minds to this week!
When God gave His all, through Jesus, so that we could be bought and paid for, He believed wholeheartedly, that we were worth the cost! God's greatest display of goodness ever shown to mankind was what Jesus did on the cross for us. The fact that He was willing to go to that extreme to snatch us out of the devil's clutches and make us His very own, tells us we have true value to Him. A value that said we are worth every drop of blood that was spilt.
Now, look at what Romans 8:31-32 says, "What then shall we say to [all] this? If God is for us, who [can be] against us? [Who can be our foe, if God is on our side?] He who did not withhold or spare [even] His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all [other] things?"
This scripture is saying that God held nothing back when He gave us Jesus, His measure of goodness towards us was extreme. So, now that we are His, how can we not expect Him to keep being good to us, just as freely and graciously, in all things we need now?
Your value and worth to God today, is just as it was the day He bought and paid for you. And what a price He paid! He gave up the life of His only begotten Son, the most precious possession He had. And both Father and Son, paid most willingly and graciously, even though it cost them everything. They did it because they believed you and I, were worth it.
But their goodness towards us didn't stop there, nor has its intensity slacked off. No, the expectation we are to have concerning God's goodness towards us, is to be of the same measure it was given at the cross. And we are to expect it in all things concerning us, especially now that we are His! The truth is, His goodness towards us today comes out of the goodness He has already done for us on the cross!
The bottom line is that we belong to God, and His intentions towards us have and always will be extremely good! That's because He believes we are worth it, regardless of what we or anyone else believes. And that is something we must not only be assured of, but must be expectant for. Let this truth resonate with you this week, I know I'm certainly going to embrace it and make it my own each day.
