On my desk I have a calculator. It’s a solar powered calculator with simple functions and big numbers. I use it for a lot of things… and it has never let me down. It adds and subtracts with great precision. Rarely would I need it to multiply or divide, but it would do those operations with great accuracy as well.
Calculators are good.
They are good because they are exact. Precise… calculated!
But if calculators create the pulse for my life… I am to be pitied.
If, when I hit the “=” sign, I have determined the course for my day, my week, my month or my life… I have shortchanged what God wants to do – both in me and through me.
Really.
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight…” (Ephesians 1:6,7)
Jesus didn’t use a calculator. He lavished His grace upon us. His generosity and sacrifice don’t barely cover my sin – His grace overwhelms and obliterates and floods my sin. Past. Present. Future.
Jesus didn’t need to sharpen His pencil when He paid for my sin. He didn’t just barely settle the score…
And with this as a pattern, Jesus invites me to live… His way… with His heart… with His strategy… to live lavish for the things that matter most to Him (“in all wisdom and insight’) – but lavish.
My calculator can’t calculate the unbounded mercy of God. It would explode…
And so, when I choose to live my life in safe boundaries I miss something. Something important. Something Godly and good. Something courageous and miraculous. Something spontaneous and unselfish.
Is it possible that I might just unlock my soul by locking away my calculator?
This is precisely why the Apostle Paul writes: “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us…” (Ephesians 3:20)
The “far more abundantly” key does not exist on my calculator.
Less calculator… more Jesus.
Lavish.
For the things that matter most to Him.
Am I ready for this?
Are you?
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