A simple thesaurus search of ‘extravagant’ produces synonyms like: exorbitant, expensive, fanciful, grandiose, and …. Lavish. Consider those words, and particularly, the last one; “lavish.” With those in mind read the text for today: Ephesians 1:3-8a
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us[b] for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us…” (emphasis mine)
God has blessed us with His grace. He has blessed us “in Christ”. Blessing that comes from the well of “the riches of His grace!” The grace of God my friend is no small, simple, or common thing! No… it is “extravagant!” And, that extravagance is completely normal within the nature of our Lord. Think about it… At the occasion of Jesus’ first miracle; a wedding in Cana of Galilee (John 2:1-11) What did Jesus do? Was an estimated 180 gallons of water turned to wine extravagant?! Jesus didn’t think so! How about the feeding of the five thousand? Surely Jesus didn’t miscalculate, so were 12 whole baskets of left overs extravagant?! Jesus didn’t think so! (Mark 6:30-44) What about the miraculous fishing experience of Luke 5:4-11? After following the instruction of Jesus, Peter lowered his nets again and there was such a great catch that the nets began to break and the catch filled two boats to the sinking point! Ridiculously, excessively, extravagant, right?! Jesus didn’t think so!! Our God is extravagant in His love for us!
Listen child of The King… stop letting the enemy of your heart convince you that the Lord’s extravagance is meant for someone else; that God wouldn’t want to bless you in that way considering all you’ve done, and the mistakes you still make! He knows you, He sees you, and yet… (maybe you noticed that I only quoted through the first part of verse 8. What does the second part say? “…which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight…” ) You see, He knows with perfect wisdom and insight, with omniscient clarity He knows you. And, nevertheless, He chooses to “lavish upon” YOU and ME His amazing, unfathomable, extravagant grace!! How can we ever choose to do anything but lovingly and completely serve Him?!
“Lord help me to grasp and fully appreciate Your extravagant grace and love today!”
Together in HIS Extravagant Grace,
Pastor Ben
