When I Survey...(Part 4)
"Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all."
The last verse of Isaac Watts' hymn invites us to consider the impact of the cross on my personal life when I survey the wondrous cross. How should I respond to such a gift? "Oh, the depths of the riches both of the WISDOM and knowledge of God!" (Rom. 11:33) In the context of the cross, Paul says that Jesus "became to us WISDOM from God, and RIGHTEOUSNESS and SANCTIFICATION, and REDEMPTION" (1 Cor. 1:30). Acceptance of this reality as wisdom is the essence of "knowing Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2).
Knowing
what Jesus has given to me, what could I ever do to repay Him? Even if I owned
the universe as a possession and offered it as a gift, the gift would fall far
short of repaying such a debt. We can never repay to God the price that was
paid for our redemption, the process of buying us back from slavery to Satan.
But we can pay it forward. The grace and love that have been shown to us...we now
turn around and show it to others...we treat each person with the same love and
respect that we would if that person was Jesus Himself. Isn't that the message
of Jesus' own parable on "The Sheep and the Goats" (Matthew 25:31-46)? We take
Jesus' example and learn how to make personal sacrifices on behalf of others.
When we accept God's grace and are washed in the blood of Jesus by the plan the
Bible lays out, the gift is free, but in return, He demands our souls...our
lives...our all.
To His Glory,
Caleb
