Vol. 17 No. 11 | March 16, 2015
I have altered this illustration from The Grace of God by William MacDonald, just a bit to fit a little easier in our current economic situation. MacDonald wrote:
Imagine you have been invited to the White House by the President of the United States. You are seated at a table filled with the choicest foods. Every effort has been made to give you the most enjoyable evening. At the end of a lovely visit, the president stands at the front door to bid you good-bye.What do you do? As you leave, do you press a $20 dollar bill in his hand and say, “Thank you very much for your kindness. I have enjoyed the evening very much. I realize it has cost you a lot of money, and I want to help you pay for the meal”?
Is that the proper response to his kindness? On the contrary, it is a rude and insulting gesture. So it would be with God’s grace and how He has demonstrated His love for us.
Here is the application.
You have come to the end of your life and as you reach the gate into Heaven you are greeted there by God. As He is greeting you with “Well done good and faithful…” you interrupt him and hand him a list showing all the good things you have done in your life. As you show Him your list you say, “I know this has cost You a lot. I want to show You that I have done my part to help pay for it.”
It is as if, after considering all that God has done for you in demonstrating His love for you, you hand Him $20 worth of your own efforts and say, “I know this cost You a lot. I want to do my part to help pay for it.”
“I want to do my part to help pay for it.”
Question: How much is your part?
I chose a $20 dollar bill for the illustration because for most of us twenty dollars is a lot of money. If it is not now, it once was a lot of money. We hand God our $20 list of good deeds and expect Him to be impressed. We expect Him to say, “Why thank you. I could not have done it without you.”
That may not be what He says. He may instead say something like this. “Thank you very much for the good life you have lived. That shows me that you appreciated what I did for you by sending my one and only Son into the world. You know, when I allowed Him to die for you on that horrible day on that horrible cross, I did that for you. I let Him die for you. When His blood was spilled on that cross, your sins were covered. You were set free. Your entire debt was paid. I really do not need your list. I know what you have done. And, although I wish you could have relaxed a little while you were living in the world and not worried so much about doing all the right things and not doing all the wrong things, I am still glad you are here. Although I wish you could have trusted my love for you enough to enjoy the abundant life I provided for you more fully, I do love you and I really am glad you are finally here with me. Welcome home.”
Tom
© Copyright 2015 Tom Norvell. All rights reserved.