The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"The Highest Cost"
"And He looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And He saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And He said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all, for all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God, but she of her penury (lack) hath cast in all the living that she had" (Luke 21:1-4).
Who represents God in this narrative of giving? On the surface, one might suppose the rich men typify the One declared by Scripture to be "the Possessor of Heaven and earth" and the owner of "the cattle upon a thousand hills" (Genesis 14:19; Genesis 50:10). Should not the Lord be viewed as always giving from abundance?
In this narrative, the poor widow actually reflects God and His giving. Regarding His saving grace in the Lord Jesus Christ, it could be said our Father gave from His lack. By this, we simply mean that our Heavenly Father provided salvation in the Lord Jesus at the greatest sacrifice to His own heart. He had but one Son to give, a cherished loved One more dear to Him than we can ever know or imagine.
"The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand" (John 3:35).
"Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24).
"I am not alone because the Father is with Me" (John 16:32).
Missing from the pages of Scripture is any detailed description of what it meant in the heart of God the Father to give His eternally beloved Son to a human life of continual challenge, and a tortured death wherein He poured out His wrath against sin by smiting and forsaking the Lord Jesus for our sakes. "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?…Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." (Matthew 27:46; Isaiah 53:4). We can only surmise what this meant in the heart of the One who declared, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). Scripture does not tell us because we could never begin to understand. We can only fall to our faces in wonder and gratitude, realizing that to redeem us from sin, it can be said that, like the poor widow, God the Father gave at the highest cost to Himself.
He could only save us by One,
He could only redeem by His Son.
This He did at a cost beyond all measure,
the One He deems His greatest treasure.
To think of this, to ponder Christ
is to think and ponder sacrifice.
The gift of a Father, the life of His Son
given freely to all who by Him come
To a seat so rightly named the throne of grace,
to a mercy shining in the face
of One who gave at the highest cost,
our gain that came by His loss.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
(John 3:16)
Weekly Memory Verse
"But Thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering."
(Psalm 86:15)
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