December 6 – The greater gift!

If God is for us who can be against us?  If He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Romans 8:31-32

Wow!  Do you hear the promise?  Now, you may be thinking, “all I see are questions.”  But, look again.  

“If God is for us, who can be against us?”  This should not be interpreted as simple inquiry, but rather a strategic argument by the Apostle Paul from the greater to the lesser. (This type of rhetorical device was very common among Paul’s writings.) While one may not consider Romans 8 to be a “Christmas” passage, consider Paul’s argument of the “greater gift.”  The greater gift  is the supreme gift of His Son Jesus Christ: If God gave Him, how will He not give us all things in support of the greater thing? So, because this greater gift has come, we should not doubt all lesser gifts (blessings) God has promised.  This argumentative style of teaching strikes a clear and invaluable note of encouragement: If God has given you His Son, then God is for you in every way.  Christmas is proof of this fact.  

However, sometimes life gets the best of us and we just simply do not feel good enough to be accepted by God, or by others for that matter.  There are times we feel so small in comparison to the enormity of our life’s challenges.  Can you imagine someone facing retirement or the death of a loved one without hope in God?  Can you imagine someone facing a deadly addiction without such hope?  Thoughts of unworthiness and feeling unwanted invade many lives because of harsh treatment from others.    Can you imagine facing this without hope? Without God? 

One of the greatest and most reassuring facts this present culture must hear today is, God is for you; you can trust Him.  And such a message comes from the Apostle Paul’s well-known “more than conquers” passage (Romans 8:28-39).  

28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose. 29 For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified. 31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

There are so many incredible promises in these verses:  God will work all things for your good, God takes the lead role in growing you spiritually, God nor His love can be separated from those who truly belong to Him, and God has made you more than a conqueror.  Wow!  God gives us these promises; and they are all built on one foundational truth: He did not spare His own Son, but gave Him for us, and He will give us all things (like the blessings listed above).  

This is God!  He is for you. And Jesus proves this.  

So today, trust God with every part of your life, and cease living in fear, anxiety, bitterness or anger?  Let God have it. He has given you His Son. And He will give you all things for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). He is for you.

This is God. This is love. This is Christ.  This is Christmas.  

Blessings.