Love and life on the line

Today: Genesis 22-24

Have you ever been asked to give up something that meant the world to you?

In today's passage, Abraham was faced with that exact dilemma. God asked him to sacrifice his son Isaac...the promised miracle child Abraham had waited for years....and years...and years to receive (and did I mention that God was the one who promised Abraham the son?). Abraham trusted God and headed to a mountain to put his love and his son's life on the line:

They arrived at the place to which God had directed him.

Abraham built an altar. He laid out the wood.

Then he tied up Isaac and laid him on the wood.

Abraham reached out and took the knife to kill his son.
Just then an angel of God called to him out of Heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"
"Yes, I'm listening."
"Don't lay a hand on that boy! Don't touch him!

Now I know how fearlessly you fear God;

you didn't hesitate to place your son,

your dear son,

on the altar

for me."
Abraham looked up.

He saw a ram caught by its horns in the thicket.

Abraham took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering

instead of his son.

Abraham named that place God-Yireh (God-Sees-to-It).

Abraham was willing to put something he dearly loved on the line for God. But instead, God saved Abraham's son by providing a ram for the sacrifice. Abraham called the entire place God-Yireh--which means basically "God sees and provides."

What's really interesting about this story when you think about it (and when you're reading the Bible in reverse like we are this year!) is the fact that God provided more than a ram. Not only did He spare Abraham from proving his love by killing his son, He actually went through the exact same thing. God proved His love by sacrificing His Son, Himself...for Abraham's descendants...and for all of us, too. He put His love and His life on the line.

Tomorrow: Genesis 25-26

Love on the line

Today: Romans 4-7

"Attention! Attention, all associates!" a voice on the intercom blared in my office today. "Do not leave the building at this time. The police department has also asked that you back away from the windows facing the street. An investigation is actively underway. We will provide more information as soon as possible."

Of course, most of us had already looked out the windows before this announcement to see police blockading several streets with their large guns in tow, apprehending a suspect and containing a parking lot with a suspicious backpack. We watched Wall-E-like robots move and prod it. And we definitely heard the, "BOOM!" as the bomb squad proactively detonated the backpack (which didn't have a bomb by the way...I probably wouldn't be here writing this now if it did!).

It was amazing for me to see what the police and firefighters do to put their lives on the line...for hundreds of strangers.

In today's passage, Paul talks to the Romans about how God put His life and love on the line for all of us:

We can understand someone dying

for a person worth dying for,

and we can understand

how someone good and noble

could inspire us to selfless sacrifice.

But God put his love on the line

for us

by offering his Son

in sacrificial death

while we were

of no use whatever

to him.

That's pretty amazing, isn't it? The police and firefighters who protected my city today put their lives on the line for me. But they didn't put their love on the line, too. But God was willing to risk both His Son, His life--and His heart--for me (and you...and everyone in the whole world, too!).

Here's another way Paul explains it:

...sin didn't, and doesn't,

have a chance

in competition

with the aggressive forgiveness

we call grace.

When it's sin versus grace,

grace wins

hands down.

All sin can do is threaten us with death,

and that's the end of it.

Grace,

because God is putting everything together again

through the Messiah,

invites us into

life—

a life that goes on and on and on,

world without end.

The description of grace as "aggressive forgiveness" floors me. In the words of my favorite celeb stylist, Rachel Zoe, it's OOC (out of control!). That's what love on the line is all about. It's the "all in" bet where God threw Himself, eternal life and heaven into the pot. It's more mind-boggling than trying to count all the stars or really understand time, space and gravity. It's a promise that's backed up with the evidence of sacrifice.

Tomorrow: Romans 8-10