Spare No Expense!

God has done more for you than you think.

Christmas is coming! Isn’t it exciting? Just imagine. On Christmas Day, you go down to open your presents, and the first gift you unwrap is: A Smelly Old Shoe.

Okay. Weird. But you move on.

The second gift you unwrap is a torn-up shirt that’s obviously too small for you.

Also weird. But surely it’s got to get better? Right?

Gift number three is a scorpion.

I’d give up at that point. Yikes.

That’s kind of a silly example, but would you ever do that to someone? Would you ever give someone you love a gift that is obviously garbage?

When I give someone a gift, I want it to be a good gift. You’ve heard the phrase, “Spare no expense”? That’s how I feel about gifts. Whatever it costs me, if it’s something that will bring joy to someone’s life, I’m in. I try to be reasonable, of course, because I’m not made of money. But sometimes the best gifts cost more than cash.

After all, the greatest gift in the universe had nothing to do with money.

Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?
Romans 8:32

You realize what our salvation cost God, right? It cost His Son. It cost part of Himself. Yet God didn’t hesitate. He did what He had to do to save us. And if He were willing to do that—to go that far in order to save us—is it so hard to believe that He only wants good for us?

Life is hard. Nobody is saying it isn’t. Something always goes wrong, even the things in life that you thought you could trust. But don’t fall into the trap of blaming God for what life has done to you.

Life breaks us. Wears us down. Beats us up. God doesn’t do any of that. God wants to give us good things. If you feel like He hasn’t, ask yourself if you’ve taken an honest inventory. You might be surprised at all the good He’s done for you that you just took for granted.

He spared no expense. He didn’t even spare Jesus. And I guarantee that any other good thing He wants to do for you costs less than that did.

Questions for Reflection:

• Make a list of the good things in your life. (Yes, right now.)

• How many of those good things can you honestly say God had nothing to do with?

• If you struggle to believe that God is good, can you identify when you started to feel that way? What happened in your life to make you believe it?

Week 49 Memory Verse: