At the heart of God’s generosity is a gift unparalleled in all of history: His own Son, born in infant flesh, who would grow up as one of us to bring light to the world, teaching us about true life and ultimately sacrificing his own. This alone is wonderful enough – God, the Maker of the universe, choosing to live with and die for us. But with the gift of his Son comes yet another staggering offer – for us to become God’s children too.
Way back in Genesis, God chose Abraham to become the father of the many nations through whom he would bless the earth. When Abraham’s children had become a great nation, God rescued them from captivity, made them his people, provided for their daily needs, and gave them a law to live by and a land to live in. And then, to their astonishment, he came to live with them in the tabernacle.
But, throughout the Old Testament, with few exceptions, God’s people rejected him and asked for a leader they could see. Mankind has continued the pattern Israel set through centuries: We reject him and desire to rule ourselves. Yet … instead of abandoning us or retaliating, God gave us a gift, the greatest gift ever made: his Son.
So Jesus came into the world as we do, as a baby, who would grow up and live among us.
Though we did not honor God as we should, in his unbounded generosity, he gave the very best and most valuable thing he could, the Son he loved, the only one he had.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
– John 3:16
We’ve heard this verse so many times we’re almost inoculated against the power of it. John 3:16 is so familiar, we read right over “should not perish” and don’t realize it’s there because “perish” is what our sins have earned us. And we forget the double, unimaginable sacrifice behind the verse. God gave his only Son to die in our place. Jesus let go of the perfection of heavenly community to empty himself and trade his perfect life for our mess.
A gift beyond measure
Jesus left heaven and the glory he had there to take on human flesh. This alone is enough wonder for a lifetime.
The first chapter of the book of John tells us that he came to be God with us. He was God from the beginning (John 1:1). Everything was created through him, and life and light belong to him. And he came to earth to give the light to us (John 1:9).
But the people he, himself, had created did not recognize him. Most didn’t receive him (John 1:11-12). Yet to those of us who do receive him, he gives the right to enter his family forever, to become children of God (John 1:12; Galatians 3:26; 1 John 5:13), even to reign with him (2 Timothy 2:12). This is additional, unimaginable generosity.
Jesus lived a life that daily demonstrated generosity:
- With his time (John 4:6-40 – read carefully these first and last verses)
- With his gifts (John 2:6-10, 14:14)
- With his forgiveness (John 21:15-17)
- With his provision of more than was asked of him, constantly (Matthew 14:13-21, see verse 20)
And after living a life that demonstrated pure generosity, Jesus gave us his glory (John 17:22). Then he gave his life so we could live forever in him (John 17:22, 19:30; 1 John 3:16).
The gift of Christ’s work
We could daily contemplate the generosity involved in the act of giving that happened on the cross and only begin to fathom it. A king came and died for our sakes? It is too good. It’s overwhelming. This gift is beyond measure, unarguably the greatest expression of generosity ever. Daniel M. Bell, Jr., author and Professor of Theology and Ethics at Lutheran Theological Seminary, writes this:
Christ’s work on the cross is a display of the plenitude of divine charity … of God’s giving and giving again. The atonement is not a settling of accounts, an exaction of payment, or the calling in of a debt. Rather it is a matter of God’s ceaseless generosity, of God’s graceful prodigality … Thus, Christ is not our offering to God but God’s offering to us.
The Father gave us a baby, and now he offers us a King. If we accept his offer, he promises that everything we worry about will be taken care of (Luke 12:22-34). It is his joy to be generous to us:
Seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
– Luke 12:31-32
When Jesus returns, we’ll receive the promised gift – eternal life for those who’ve committed their lives to him. In the meantime, he asks that we give, too, and offer the same gift he first offered us to others: Himself.
