Friday, January 6, 2012

The Gift of God



Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.  James 1:17

 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another,
as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.  
1 Peter 4:10

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23


A woman of Samaria came to draw water.  Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."  
For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.  Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?"  For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.  Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink', you would have asked Him,  and He would have given you living water."  John 4:7-10


Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin.  If one man's sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God's gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, will do!  There's no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift.  The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life-sentence.  If death got the upper hand through one man's wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands, this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right that the one man, Jesus Christ provides?  Romans 5:15-17 (The Message)


For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; 
it is the gift of God.  Ephesians 2:8

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift
 2 Corinthians 9:15

4 comments:

  1. And the Gift keeps on giving through all the"Andrea's" of the world.

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  2. This is a powerfully beautiful post Andrea Dawn! I would that everyone could read it and be blessed to know 'This Indescribable Gift'.
    He is Life and Peace and Joy!
    Romans 5:15-17 in the Message was amazing and your gift photos to go along with these verses is perfect... even the hazy last one, as we see dimly, but then, face to face!
    "breathtaking recovery!" Love this!

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  3. What wonderful gift photos and such a powerful message too.

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  4. Somehow I missed this written on the day of my termination. Somehow I was preoccupied. It is a tremendous message full of life-giving Good News. I concur with Susan that the passage from the Message was quite amazing.

    I pray you are feeling much better,
    Dawn

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