Grace
We marvel at the grace of God toward us. Why would He love us so and lavish His grace on us as He has done? It can only be because of His great love. Yes, God's grace is wonderful, but what exactly is grace? We hear many definitions, and they all are useful at getting to the meaning. Grace is a free gift. It is something we could never earn or deserve. However, someone has said that grace is "God's Riches at Christ's Expense." That seems to be the definition that Paul is presenting to us in II Corinthians 8:9. This is an amazing aspect of His grace.
God owns everything in the universe. He created it from nothing, so He is surely the Owner of everything. Jesus is God who became a man, so He could give Himself for our salvation. Therefore, He owned everything when He chose to leave heaven and all of His riches behind, so He could come to earth and die for us. He became totally poor, with no house and little money of His own. However, He did that so we could become rich. When we come to know Him, we are joint-heirs with Christ. That means we become owners of what He owns. Being saved from our sins and having eternal life in heaven is even greater than all of the material riches we inherit. That makes us very rich, but it could only have happened by Christ becoming poor for us.
Tomorrow, I intend to read II Corinthians 9-12.
God owns everything in the universe. He created it from nothing, so He is surely the Owner of everything. Jesus is God who became a man, so He could give Himself for our salvation. Therefore, He owned everything when He chose to leave heaven and all of His riches behind, so He could come to earth and die for us. He became totally poor, with no house and little money of His own. However, He did that so we could become rich. When we come to know Him, we are joint-heirs with Christ. That means we become owners of what He owns. Being saved from our sins and having eternal life in heaven is even greater than all of the material riches we inherit. That makes us very rich, but it could only have happened by Christ becoming poor for us.
Tomorrow, I intend to read II Corinthians 9-12.