grace and worth

the last few days we have been talking a lot as a family about grace. we've been sharing with our kids about Jesus' death, what it means, why it happened, etc. and really the word grace sums it all up. he bore the bloody punishment, flogging, beating and brutal death that i deserve. that all of us deserve. to think God gave up his own son to receive all of that in my place... that is grace.

i have also been thinking about what grace means as we measure what we are worth. what are we worth to God for him to do this for us? what value would something have to have in order for me to give up my son jake - to be beaten and crucified - in its place.

think about "value" from a business standpoint. certain things have more value than others. for example, a new porsche is worth more than a beat up work truck. now think of everyone you know. do some seem like new porsche's, and others like old beaters?

but to God, there is no one with greater value than another. mine and your value is exactly the same as the malnourished guatemalan child, his skin covered in scabies, and his bloodstream carrying the sexually transmitted diseases passed down from his parents. with arguably no hope for his life, his value is no different than mine. to the one who created him, he is worth the same as those who are considered the most powerful people in the world: presidents, billionaires, businessmen, and entertainers.

that is grace.

the more i grow in Christ, the more i want to know grace.

~to ignore to the poor is to not understand grace.
~to look differently at other races is to not understand grace.
~to be overly patriotic to the point of arrogance is to not understand grace.
~to consider myself better than anyone else is to not understand grace.

sometimes i forget that my "good fortune" has nothing to do with me, but is only by His grace.

as we continue to gladly receive His grace, we should be being changed by His grace, and learning to extend it to others the way He does to us.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Eph 2:4-7