LAVISHED

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

When was the last time you had something lavished on you. For me, the thought that comes to mind is about Christmas. We are at the end of Christmastide, as it is called, so we can still talk about it without being “out of season.” Picture the Ghost of Christmas Past when old Ebenezer first encounters him in what appears to be a mighty banquet hall.
My parents were not incredibly wealthy, but they were wise with their money and every Christmas they seemed to save it up to spend on my sister and me. The gifts were piled around the tree. They circled the whole thing. As children, we didn’t realize how blessed we were. We took way too much for granted. Oh, we appreciated what we received, even the clothes. But, I think, we thought everyone had a Christmas like we had. I know quite well now that most did not. I realize now that there were those who had nothing, not even a tree, on December 25th.
Now take one of those children who had nothing on Christmas Day and put them in the house of my childhood with every single one of those packages that we spent most of the day opening with their name on it! That, my friends, is what it means to have something lavished on you! Or maybe it speaks more to the excitement we should experience when we recognize the “riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.”
Think of it! Now I am one of those that believe every child deserves a present on Christmas Day. Yet, I am not one of those, nor are you by the way, who deserves the grace of God lavished upon him. I am a good person by human standards, and so are you, but neither you nor I deserve the grace of God. Still, for some reason, God decides, not just to gift you his grace, but to gift it to you in portions of which you and I are not even able to comprehend.
Sometimes the best thing to do is to sit in the grass, surrounded by God’s marvelous creation, and just be in wonder of his amazing gifts to his children. God’s gifts come in only one size, infinite, because that is how much he loves you!
Pastor Craig