Extravagant blessings....

Times are hard, and conspicuous consumption is officially frowned upon in polite society as ordinary people struggle to put food on the table and keep the roof over their family's head.  To call someone extravagant, especially now, would not generally be taken as a compliment.  In fact, I think most people would be a little offended if someone referred to them that way.  Merriam-Webster provides us with four different meanings for the word extravagant, mostly to do with money or price, and mostly leading to the conclusion that extravagance is a negative thing.

But it's not all about money.  Extravagant can also mean exceeding the limits of reason or necessity, lacking in moderation, balance and restraint.  I have been thinking about that meaning this week, and I think that is the perfect description for God.  He has thrown caution to the wind with us, his creation in his own image.  He loves us thoroughly, with total abandon of reason.  No matter how often we turn away, screw up his plans, throw his grace back in his face, he continues to be there and to provide his immoderate and unrestrained benevolence for us.

Every now and again, we are reminded in a particularly unexpected way how extravagant the blessings are that we receive from God.  I had such a blessing this week, and it was a powerful reminder of the beauty of God's gracious goodness to us, even when we don't deserve it.  The blessing did, in fact, have a financial aspect to it, but that was peripheral to the real gift, the extravagant love and respect of a child for her parent.  That is something that cannot be bought or sold, it is born out of the extravagant love of a parent for their child, an extension of the love God has for us.

In Ephesians 1:3, Paul writes:

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.  (NIV)

Our relationship with God is one of his giving and our taking.  We cannot bless him or endow him with material things.  We cannot offer him anything he has not already created.  We come before him with nothing but our love and adoration. But in his extravagant love for us, in his unending grace and boundless mercy, he has thrown away the counter and bestowed upon us the gift of eternal life and ultimate salvation through the blood of his own son, Jesus Christ.

Certainly, that was, by every measure, an extravagant act of grace.  He was not required to love us this way.  It wasn't necessary or reasonable for fallen humans to receive his grace and goodness.  God didn't moderate his gift to fit our unworthy natures.  He gave us the gift of his son with careless abandon, an act of love so breathtaking it is almost impossible to understand.

In these hard times, it is a relief to know that God is there, ever faithful, never changing, throwing blessings our way with utter disregard for what we actually deserve.  I am filled with gratitude that the God of all creation is the God of my heart and soul, as well.  My faith is in him, and he dwells within me.  The blessings I have been given require nothing more than to accept the endless circle of God's loving embrace.

I can just about manage that.  Wishing you God's grace and peace this day and every day.