Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
Our daughter, Bethany, received a stipend to be a fellow at the Witherspoon Institute in Washington, DC her senior year of college. I’ll never forget the call we got two days after she was there. She talked a mile a minute about how much the instructors anticipated from their students. (There were only fourteen chosen from across the country each semester). They expected their scholars to learn how to use godly principles to influence the culture. Their goal was that after the students received training, they would go on to be judges, congressmen/women, or be placed in other positions that would help shape our society.
The instructors believed in their students so much that every term they invested around $17,000 in each one. The effect of such extravagant investment and affirmation had a profound effect on Bethany, so profound that she decided to take her LSATS and apply to law school. She was convinced she could make a difference in the world.
What Witherspoon did for our daughter reminds me of what God desires for us. He wants us to discover new dimensions of who he has created us to be. And he has invested far more in each of us than $17,000. Scripture says he spared nothing on our behalf, giving us his Son to actually live in us and empower us to face every situation we encounter with victory, to love every human being with his love.
So what’s holding us back? Why do we settle for half-hearted aspirations? Why are we content to give “conditional” love when a vast supply of the “real stuff” lies within our reach? Maybe the echoes of a fallen world have muted the voice that says, “Come up higher.” Perhaps we’ve concluded our life is a tired cliché rather than a poem more sublime than the finest from Shakespeare’s pen. Whatever the cause, it’s not too late to let the lavishing love of our Father open our eyes, ears and hearts to the truth…
You and I are worth everything to him.