To the Praise of the Glory of His Grace

Ephesians 1:3-6 says that God has "blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ", that He "chose is in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him", that He "predestined us to adoption as sons according to the kind intention of His will", and that this was all to happen "to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved."

What amazing, glorious news! What life-transforming truth! That I was known by God, chosen by Him, to be blessed so greatly and to turn and praise His glorious grace as a result. It matches John Piper's assertion that God's love for sinners does not lead Him to make much of them, but that it leads Him to free them and empower them to make much of Him. Everything exists and finds its ultimate purpose in praising the glory of God's grace.

The birth narratives of Jesus Christ's first advent to earth show these truths. What God had planned long ages before the world began; promised (since Genesis 3:15) and repeated so many times by His prophets through the years, was also perfectly timed for man's good and God's glory. Galatians 4:4-5 tells s that when the "fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons."

So when we read the accounts of Christ's birth while knowing the rest of the story up to His impending second advent to earth, we must remember that they who first heard and experienced it did so in real time, without knowing the rest of the picture. And the answers God gave within the story are the same answers we need to walk through life embracing, really clinging to. "Do not fear, God is with you". "You have found grace with God". "Nothing will be impossible with God".

God sympathizes with us in our weakness - when we are misunderstood as Mary surely was, when we are lonely, wounded, hurting; because we know that things aren't always what they seem. The news announced to Mary was cosmically glorious and humanly shocking at the same time, open to much misunderstanding on many levels - Mary and Joseph's honesty, integrity and purity were questioned - though they were intact and blameless - only they and God knew.

We rejoice in the good news that God in Christ brings hope to hurting sinners. We bask in God's grace. Even in the midst of heart-wrenching illness, relational challenges, vocational struggles and economic woes. We rest content knowing that everything is in the hands of Him who purposed such miraculous wonderful things; and that even in the midst of misunderstanding, and doubt, God's glory still shines through in redemptive connections seen all throughout life. We see how He has worked "all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose" (Rom. 8:28). How good is God!

We desire not to be made much of, not to be the center of attention; but to make much of God, to make Him the center of all our attention and adoration.