Oh my, how quickly do we move from momentary initial gratefulness to selfishly taking things for granted.

For example, when the government grants us a temporary financial subsidy, we immediately expect it as a lifetime entitlement (e.g. food stamps, unemployment compensation, disability payments, etc.).

It’s the same in the spiritual realm. Christians, especially those who have been believers for decades, tend to presume upon God’s grace all the time.

I find this attitude occasionally bubble up in my own stony heart, “What have you done for me lately God?”

This is especially true when I don’t get the answer to prayer that I expect, or when an illness lingers long after I ask God to take it away.

The scary part is that I know these thoughts are lurking there — and it’s the same for anyone who dares to peer honestly, courageously, into the seething depths of their own fallen heart.

Mother of All Presumptions

But the “mother” of all presumptions is that Jesus Christ HAD to come from Heaven to earth and die for us to pay our “sin bill.” Plainly stated, no He did not!

We ran up the bill, callously ignored His will, went our own way. God could have righteously remained comfortably on His throne in Heaven and let us “blow in the wind.”

But then, in Psalm 103:8-14, we read these stupendous words of King David regarding God’s attitude toward His wayward creatures:

“The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in mercy.
He will not always contend with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our guilty deeds.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him.
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our wrongdoings from us.
Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
For He Himself knows our form;
He is mindful that we are nothing but dust.”

God knows all about our beginnings from dust. But He lifted that dust to His lips and blew His image and likeness into it, forever bonding us to Him in unbreakable love.

While we were chronically disloyal, He remained fiercely loyal.

Riches of His Kindness

Yes, God could have ignored our self-induced plight, but kindness drove Him to another far more painful and costly course of action, as shared in Philippians 2:5-8:

“… as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bondservant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross.”

Restraint and Patience

And in Luke 23:33-35:

“And when they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing His garments among themselves. And the people stood by, watching.”

Even when they (and by extension, you and me) were driving nails through His hands and feet, He interceded for them. Had He not, who knows, God could have poured out His wrath as He did upon Sodom and Gomorrah, ending the story of mankind then and there.

Not a voice was raised or a hand lifted in defense of this totally innocent man, “… the people stood by, watching.”

Jesus, could have at any time, “… appealed to My Father, and He would at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels …” but He remained silent.

Path to Repentance

God is not a bully. He appeals to us as a tender Father. Repent, “metanoeō,” meaning to have a new mind.

As written in Romans 5:6-8:

“For while we were still helpless (that’s you), at the right time Christ died for the ungodly (that’s you). For one will hardly die for a righteous person; though perhaps for the good person (no such thing) someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

4-1-1

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