We\u0092ve all heard the phrase \u0093give him an inch and he\u0092ll take a mile\u0094 which is usually used as a derogatory statement pointing out how someone takes advantage of something. But I was thinking about how God is somewhat like this – NOT of course in the sense of taking advantage of us but in the sense that He always does extremely abundantly ABOVE all that we ask or think… (Eph 3:20).
\n\tAn awesome case in point is the entire chapter of Romans 5. I like to refer to this as the \u0093much more\u0094 chapter, as that phrase is repeated five different times throughout the chapter\u0092s 21 verses: (capital emphasis mine)
\nVs. 8-9 \u0093 But God commanded His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, MUCH MORE then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.\u0094
\nVs. 10 \u0093For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son MUCH MORE being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.\u0094
\nVs. 15 \u0093But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, MUCH MORE the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, has abounded unto many\u0094
\nVs. 17 \u0093For if by one man\u0092s offense death reigned by one; MUCH MORE they which received abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.\u0094
\nVs. 20 \u0093Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did MUCH MORE abound.\u0094
\n\tLet\u0092s go back to verse 17, but this time in the Amplified Bible, to really drive this point home! \u0093But God\u0092s free gift is not at all to be compared to the trespass [His grace is out of all proportion to the fall of man]. For if many died through one man\u0092s falling away (his lapse, his offense), much more profusely did God\u0092s grace and the free gift [that comes] through the undeserved favor of the one Man Jesus Christ abound and overflow to for [the benefit of] many.\u0094
\n\tWow! You might want to go back and read that over again, and again and again and again! His grace is out of all proportion to the fall of man. You\u0092ve got to see that God didn\u0092t just \u0091even up the score\u0092 but He gave us a HUGE advantage, He did MUCH MORE!
\n\tIt\u0092s vital for you to know that grace and sin are not \u0091equal opposites\u0092. Grace FAR outweighs the effects, the consequences of sin in our lives! God didn\u0092t just see fit to \u0091save\u0092 us but to \u0091save us to the UTTERMOST\u0092 – entirely, completely, forever. He doesn\u0092t just want to \u0091change\u0092 us, it\u0092s His intent to TRANSFORM us!
\n\tMay we never allow our small thinking, our ignorant mindsets, to LIMIT the Holy One of Israel in our lives!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We\u0092ve all heard the phrase \u0093give him an inch and he\u0092ll take a mile\u0094 which is usually used as a derogatory statement pointing out how someone takes advantage of something. But I was thinking about how God is somewhat like this – NOT of course in the sense of taking advantage of us but in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ekklesiaofcrane.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ekklesiaofcrane.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ekklesiaofcrane.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ekklesiaofcrane.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ekklesiaofcrane.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ekklesiaofcrane.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ekklesiaofcrane.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ekklesiaofcrane.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ekklesiaofcrane.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}