He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? Romans 8:32
Surprisingly, “wretched man” Paul of Romans 7:24 – not spiritual Superman – comes to the rescue! In Romans 8 he walks us from his own recurring misery into God’s mercy, and from sin’s tyranny into the triumph of His tenacious grace. The chapter is so full of cherished truths expressed in familiar phrases that we might miss two tiny words begging to be harnessed to our faith. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him?” The little word “all” by itself means little until we put it under the magnifying glass of the Holy Spirit. Then it reveals such superlative versatility and adaptability that not even the venerable Oxford English Dictionary could exhaust its myriad meanings. In plain English, we use the inexhaustible all of God’s redemptive provision to hitch our faith to His core strength. In vain we have hitched it to our core weakness and become mired in defeat. God’s core strength is the giving up of His only begotten Son! (Part 2 of 2)
Comment: The word “all” doesn’t appear in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance proper, but has been relegated to its bulging Appendix. There, thousands of Bible verses are listed in print so miniscule that one abhors even the thought of digging in to look some up. Time to remember that “All good things come in threes.” Few of us have memorized the Declaration of Independence, yet we readily recall “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Perhaps we could follow suit, but draft a Declaration of Dependence on the words of the Apostle Paul, the Psalmist David, and Jesus Christ Himself. “But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to ALL who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and ALL are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” Romans 3:21-24). “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and ALL that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits: Who pardons ALL your iniquities, who heals ALL your diseases…” (Psalm 103:1-3). “Come unto me, ALL ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matth. 11:28). I’m mortified to find my thoughts unexpectedly drifting into the sights and sounds of my local mall and picturing weary shoppers loaded down with their purchases. Doesn’t it seem sacrilegious to zero in on God’s gift of salvation, only to trail off into the seductive world of our sophisticated Christmas merry-making? On second thought, didn’t Jesus scandalize the religious of His day by preferring the company of “publicans and sinners” to theirs? Surely the mall is teeming with them and He would spot the facades of gilt that hide the guilt. Wouldn’t He be drawn to lift the spirit of the heavy-hearted or that of a dejected immigrant with the heavy accent? Angels heralded Christ’s birth to lowly shepherds ostracized by their society, but they became fledgling evangelists. Perhaps the Baby Jesus of our cozy mangers would like to be treated as an adult and allowed to step into every corner of our world as He chooses. Romans 8
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