Thursday, June 8, 2017

No Plan "B"

Thursday, June 8, 2017
For God saved us and called us to live a holy life.  He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.  And now he has made all of this plain to us by the appearing of Christ Jesus, our Savior.  He broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News.  2 Timothy 1:9-10(NLT)
We humans always want to have a “Plan B” as a backup, just in case “Plan A” doesn’t make the cut.  It makes sense to us; we’ve all failed before. 
That’s so different from the way God sees things.  Paul expresses it as God didn’t have a plan B; everything God planned, including creating us was in order to extend grace to us via the cross of His Son, Jesus.  That singular plan of God’s took shape from before the beginning of time.  That means God knew that if He gave his prototypes, Adam and Eve, freedom to choose their own pathway it would result in them choosing badly.  It also meant God would experience death in order to restore eternal life to his created, fallen beings.  And yet He still chose his Plan A.
I’ve wondered about what I would have chosen had I been in God’s position.  In no way do I want to play God, but it is an awesome and humbling muse to try to see it from God’s vantage point.  What could drive a plan that would involve choosing your only Son to experience rejection, humiliation, beating and death by crucifixion?  Especially for people who don’t deserve it, or even want it?  Well, we know the company line answer is John 3:16…for God so loved the world…, it was God’s love that drove Plan A. 
It’s incredibly hard to imagine loving someone that much, especially when that love isn’t returned or even acknowledged.
Paul also thought about this part of God’s plan:
Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good.  Romans 5:7(NLT)
But God wasn’t thinking about dying for good people, or even especially good people; his target was to seek and to save the lost, those who have sinned; He came to offer forgiveness to even those who have committed the most monstrous evil.
And that’s the mysterious part of the whole idea of grace; it isn’t earned, or purchased, or chance, or subject to the rules of payback or law.  Grace is God’s favor extended without respect to what sins a person has committed, big or small.  It’s simply the expression of love – the desire to be close to those who are loved. 
This was God’s first and only plan!
But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.  Romans 5:8(NLT)

For You Today

God chose the cross for Himself before the first blade of grass saw the light of day…and He did it for us.  Grace is not a thing to take lightly!
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!


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[1] Title Image:  via Pixabay.com

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