The Lavish Nature of God

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3-10 NIV)

As I was reading this passage earlier this week, one word jumped out at me—“lavished.”  I think many people believe God to be very stingy. This is why I think people are hesitant to wait on God to bless them in certain areas of their lives because they see Him as inherently reluctant to do so.  For instance, many people get into, or choose to stay in, romantic relationships that aren’t spiritually healthy because they don’t believe God will bless them with anything better. Or they commit a sin and believe God could never truly forgive them for what they did.  Or they resist a calling to pursue a different career than they imagined for themselves, thinking they would never be happy doing that.  In other words, they believe the Lord would call them to do something they would hate.  

What the word “lavished” reveals is God is far from stingy with His love and grace.  Rather, He longs to bless us far beyond what we could ever imagine (Ephesians 3:20).  Generosity is at the heart of who He is, generosity in love, grace, and mercy.  He longs to lavish us with all of these.  

Today, know God is not stingy, and He is for you, rather than against you.  You are His child and He wants to lavish you with His love, grace and mercy.  All that is needed from you is trust in that truth.

© Jim Musser 2016