Blog # 67 GIFT

Blog #67 GIFT What a joy it would be for a poor man to win a fortune in a lucky drawing through no more effort on his part than to enter the contest, fill in the blank and send in his name. If we reflect upon this experience of the poor man who became a grand prize winner we can see somewhat of a parallel between each of us and the Good News of Salvation in Jesus. The Bible tells us we cannot by our own merits or good works earn the gift of eternal life. The good news of salvation is a gift from God. Grace is free, an expression of love rather than a reward. Even when we were in sin God loved us and called us to Himself in Christ Jesus. So indeed we are like a poor person winning a rich prize offered freely by God because He loves us in Jesus. In order to win there is one thing necessary on the part of the poor person. He or she must enter the drawing or contest. He must submit his name. So we, even though salvation is a free gift and cannot be earned by the greatest among us, from the least to the greatest we must believe in order to be saved. We must accept the gift of salvation, make it our own, join with Jesus as members of His body, branches on the vine. Think again of the poor man who won a million dollars. What a difference this would make in his life ! Can you imagine him living the same as he had been living when he was poor? If so,it might as well have been that he didn't win the prize at all. So it is with our prize of salvation. Without the gift of salvation we are indeed poor, each of us growing older by the hour, with death, our greatest enemy after sin, approaching ever closer, looming large against all else we may have accomplished or accumulated in the short span of our human life, telling us for sure the bad news there is no hope beyond the grave. But the Good News comes that Jesus lives. He has conquered death , in our name as well as His. The Father loves us with the same love with which He loves Jesus. ( cf Jn 17: 23 ). We share by faith the victory of Jesus over sin and death. We are given the good news of eternal life ! As the poor man who won the fortune, so we who received the gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus find our whole lives changed by this fact. We are now united with Jesus in our prayers and praise of God our loving Father. In Jesus we do the works of the Lord. We are enriched with the riches of His goodness. As we recall and reflect upon what Jesus does for us in the here and now of our everyday lives, may we be filled with the joy great Saints have known. Jesus has won for us the prize of salvation. Our lives are different because of Him. Because of the strength and wisdom He shares we pray in His name. God is our Father in Jesus ! We can promise to be kind to one another, strengthened by His love which we share. We can be brothers and sisters to all people throughout the world in the vision Jesus taught. Thank You, Lord !