What is your 'else'

If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? (Romans 8:38)

Is there anything ELSE he wouldn't GLADLY and FREELY do for us? Sometimes I think we expect God is somehow 'finished' with us at some point, but let me be the first one to admit he is far from finished with me! God didn't stop redeeming me at the moment I said 'yes' to Jesus - in fact, he is still in the process of changing a hard heart and sinful nature into one that will respond with obedience. My 'redemption' - a really big word for having my sins forgiven and my life transformed by the power of Jesus' grace - only began the work of 'creating me anew'. Yes, we are totally 'redeemed' at the point we say 'yes' to Jesus, but there is a lifetime of work being done within us to help us reject the desires of our sinful nature and to embrace the new nature of Christ within.

God indeed did put everything on the line for us at the cross, but he continues to put it all on the line for us each and every day. Feel like it or not, God is there. He is working within - nothing stops the work that he begins. Yes, he embraced us when our spiritual, emotional, and even our physical condition was going nowhere good. Gladly and without reservation, he embraced us and is still embracing us. From the very start - he loved. He never stops. Someone needs to hear that today. There are moments I have to tell myself this very thing - God never stops loving us. Freely he embraced and continues to embrace us in his grace - freely - get that, please. His gifts of grace are free - there is nothing we do to deserve them and he is not 'measuring' out little bits and pieces of his grace in a stingy manner. It is freely given - in immeasurable proportions.

God doesn't hesitate to embrace us in our sin - he surely won't hesitate to embrace us when we fall flat on our faces in some form of sinful compromise. It is God's work to help us 'put things in order' within our lives. Sometimes I think we get this backwards, thinking maybe it is our 'job' to get things in order and then God will 'accept' or 'appreciate' us. Do you honestly think God would give so much in redeeming our lives and then require us to 'do' more? The question isn't if we need to obey - we do. The question isn't if we need to respond when he speaks - we do. The question isn't if we need to cry out when we are losing our grip on life - we do. This isn't 'earning' grace - this is living as his new life within us demands.

Today someone is thinking there are things God won't do for or in them, but that just isn't true. There is nothing 'else' we could ask or need that he hasn't already provided for within our lives. In fact, the 'else' we can imagine is really already settled in heaven and God isn't stingy in meeting that 'else' with his grace, love, and provision. There is nothing 'else' he won't freely and gladly do for and within us - nothing. If you need this today - embrace it. If you aren't there today, pray for the one who is - they need our support and love to fully accept God's truth that they are loved, accepted, and fully appreciated just as they are. He is enough for their 'else'. He is enough for our 'else', too! Just sayin!