And God loves us so perfectly and so unimaginably that He made Himself like us – weak miserable lowly us – just so that we could become a little more like Him…
I have been reflecting on Saint Paul’s words in the second letter to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 8:9), when he spoke of the exchange that Christ made for our salvation…
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9).
And I have been reflecting on the practicalities – so to speak – of such an exchange…
You see, Christ shared His DIVINITY with our mere lowly flesh…
“Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” (2 Peter 1:4).
And to allow us to participate in His Divinity, God assumed the weaknesses of our miserable flesh…
“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:5-8).
And what that really means is that the CREATOR allowed Himself to become a CREATURE – placing Himself into Time and Space for LOVE OF US to SAVE us…
And I have to wonder why? I mean, what did God have to gain from this exchange?
After all, when I trade something or exchange something, I am assuming that there is an exchange of valuables. Basically, that means that I must give something of value away to someone else in order to gain something of value for myself.
This is the very foundational basis of Australian Contract Law. You see, Contract Law in this country is based on the fundamental premise that a contract can only exist where certain elements exist – and one of these elements is called “consideration”.
“Consideration” is a technical legal term, which effectively means, an exchange of something of value by the parties to the contract. An example of consideration is where property or services are exchanged for money. For example, I give consideration of money for a new pair of shoes when I shop in a store, or my clients pay me consideration of money for teaching-services, or I trade my new jacket for my friend’s new pants…
Without consideration – or this exchange of valuables – there is no legally enforceable contract…
Now the law tells us that the consideration exchanged does not need to be something of great value. In fact, it is relatively common for the consideration of a contract to be a single dollar – to satisfy the requirement for consideration where parties to the contract do not wish to profit from their exchange. And yet, the law is clear – there must be consideration (even small consideration) if there is to be a contract…
And so, my mind turns again to the question of why?… What did God have to gain from this exchange? Why did He do it?
And the answer is NOTHING… God had nothing to gain – for He is perfect and infinite and complete…
But how lucky are we… For this salvation of ours is not a valid legally enforceable contract. And thank God for that! You see, in this salvation of ours we have not provided anything of value to God.
In fact, I almost bring myself to ask whether God would have been better off without us. I mean, He certainly does not need us, and He suffered so greatly for us to save us, that surely we are not worth the aggravation…
And yet, He loves us. At Christmas Love was born, on Good Friday He died, and on Easter Sunday, Love resurrected...
And God loves us so perfectly and so unimaginably that He made Himself like us – weak miserable lowly us – just so that we could become a little more like Him…
And He did it for FREE – without consideration… Now, that is LOVE!
And when I think about that, I marvel… For how could I help loving a God who would do such a thing as that?
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.