A few days ago, Biscuit asked me for his envelope of money. It had been in my purse since our trip to Disney World, and he finally remembered to get it. I'm not sure how much was in there, but around $25.00.
Several moments later Biscuit came to all of us and gave gifts to his two older brothers and his sister. Two gifts were in little Christmas sacks and one was wrapped in a Walmart sack. They opened their gifts and asked Biscuit why he was giving them his money. His reply: "It's fun to give!" I praised him for giving and for being kind, but was a little surprised that he gave all of his money away because it's not the way he usually is turned. He likes to get money and spend it. Of course, being 10, he doesn't get much and we don't do allowances, so his income in close to nothing until birthdays come along.
His brothers and sister were surprised as well, but told him thank you.
Later on that evening, our oldest son was going to bed and got a little snippy with his sister. I didn't hear about it until he was already in bed, but decided to say something to him the next morning. Before he woke up, though, I found out that when he was rude, Biscuit went up to him and took his money away from him! He said he wasn't going to let him have it because he had been mean! Oh, that was funny to me!!!
When the older brother woke up and I talked to him about the way he acted, I mentioned the money....and it being taken away. He said he knew Biscuit would eventually want it back, and he wasn't planning on keeping it anyway.
To me this story is just funny. It wasn't a big deal, and it was interesting to see it play out as it did. But this story does make me think about giving and taking. What if God, who gives us the gift of salvation, took it away every time we sinned? What if the blood of Jesus didn't continue to cleanse us when we ask for forgiveness? Wouldn't that be horrible? Yes! It would!
Last week I was reading in the Old Testament about the sacrifices under the old law. I can't imagine how they were ever able to keep all of those laws. Well, they weren't able to, were they? They had rules for taking care of those sins. And even the rules to cover the sins would be difficult to keep. It was give and take....give and take....give and take.
That's what is so special about the sacrifice of Jesus under the new law. He was/is the final sacrifice - the perfect sacrifice. He took the sins of the past, present and future upon himself and put them to death on the cross. When you look at salvation now, it's pretty simple compared to all of those rules under the old law.
Because of God's grace, we don't have to worry about God "giving and taking". His plan is perfect. His grace is sufficient. Our part is just to get on board with his perfect plan. Grace is defined in an acrostic as, "God's Riches at Christ's Expense". Thank you, God! Thank you for the new covenant. Thank you for no more "give and take"! Thank you the perfect sacrifice. Thank you for Jesus.
Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.
Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.
Hebrews 7:22-28
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Thank you for visiting "Shine Like Stars"! I appreciate your comments. Have a great day! Lori