A couple of years ago, Mike came in and handed me this old window frame and said, “You should put this on your chalkboard wall and write stuff in the frame.” I thought that it was a good idea, so we hung it up and it took me several days to write something in it. Once I was tired of it being blank, and since I love Ephesians and I need to be reminded of what Jesus did for us, I wrote Ephesians 1:7-8 inside this frame.
In Him WE have REDEMPTION through His blood and FORGIVENESS of our trespasses, according to the riches of His GRACE, which HE LAVISHED upon US! Ephesians 1:7-8a (emphasis mine)
Seven days later, Jesus took Boston Home. These words are still on my wall. They won’t be erased until a new person inhabits this house.
I found out from my 13 year old that he reads these words over and over while he’s sitting on the sofa and he’s bored. I chuckled when I found out, and then I became eternally grateful.
These words are the Gospel. These words is why our family can wake up each day and put one foot in front of the other. These words tell us what Jesus redeemed us with each strike to his back, each thorn that pierced his forehead, each nail that went into his palm and the blood that gushed for his side. It was all taken and oozed and poured out for us so that we could be redeemed, even though we were so unbelievably unworthy.
He redeemed us and forgave us of our anger, our prejudice, our disobedience, our frustrations, our lack of wisdom, our poor choices, our adulterous hearts, our lying, our selfishness and our immorality. The list goes on. We know it goes on. Our hearts are full of sin and each day, we must be reminded that with his blood we are forgiven. We are free from sin and it’s bondage.
His grace is so unbelievably rich that we truly cannot begin to understand how rich and lavished we are. I love that word. Lavished.
Lavished: very generous or liberal in giving or spending, often extravagantly (Webster’s Dictionary)
God gives his grace generously and liberally. We can never run from it. Each breath we take is grace. Each step we take is grace. Each time we open our eyes is grace.
You may be wondering how we can worship Jesus after such a tragic accident. My only response, and some may not be able to understand it, is grace. It is by God’s grace that we are worshiping. It is by God’s grace that we believe when we find it struggle to believe. It is God’s grace that has held us through these two years. I truly do not have an amazing biblical answer, because all I can claim is that Jesus has been (and will continue) to be enough until we are Home.
His grace does not make the pain hurt less, oh no. We are broken and we weep and we filled with grief, our Lord, however, holds us while we weep. The Gospel never changes because of how we feel. Never. It is always the same and filled with life giving truth.
The same Jesus that bled and died for our family, bled and died for you too. His grace is for the proud. His grace is for the selfish. His grace is for the broken. His grace is for the messy. His grace is for the angry. His grace is even for the ones to struggle to believe. His grace is for you. He has LAVISHED it upon you. The best part is that it’s free. You can’t do anything or buy anything to get it. It’s free and it’s life giving.
#Jesusisenough #TillweareHome