A Prayer About God’s Kindness
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-7
Gracious Father, reading these words from Paul is like standing under the Niagara Falls of the gospel with my mouth wide open. I’m only capable of imbibing from such vintage and copious wonder a little at a time. You are a God who has inundated us with your great love, rich mercy and incomparable riches of grace. A supply, so profound and profuse, I can barely begin to wrap my head around it…
But today, what really arrests my attention the most, is the image of being raised from the dead and seated in Christ so that throughout eternity you might demonstrate your kindness to us in Jesus. That absolutely fries the circuit-board of my imagination, throws fuel on the fire of my longings, and reveals the paucity of my faith.
There’s just something about the revelation of your kindness that touches something very deep inside of me in this season of life. Maybe it’s because of how little kindness I see in the world today. Maybe it’s because of how much I long to be a genuinely kind man. Maybe it’s because the thought of your being quintessential kindness utterly contradicts so many wrong images I’ve had of you so much of my life…
And the thought of your eternal commitment to reveal more and more and more of your kindness to me/to us… today in the gospel, and everyday the new heaven and new earth… I’m left speechless, breathless, and so grateful. In Jesus’ name, I worship and pray… Amen