By Campus Missionary Mary Rowley
Something fantastic happened the other day. I was in a meeting with Pastor Jay and Matt, and Matt said the word “cookies.” I said, “Man, now I really want
cookies.” After the meeting broke up, PJ went to check the mail, and lo and behold, I had a package containing homemade cookies. It was like God knew how much I wanted cookies and supplied them immediately. I shared my gift of cookies with Pastor Jay and the students who were coming in for our leadership meeting.
In our Epistle reading from this Sunday, Paul is describing the gift we as Christians have received. He says, “There is no distinction: all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift” (Romans 3:22-24). That is a far better gift than my grandma’s cookies. That gift is something we do not deserve in the slightest, but God gives it to us freely. With this justification, we are given faith in Jesus Christ, and we have the righteousness of God – something we could never attain on our own. That is an amazing gift.
Like my cookies, we shouldn’t keep this incredible gift to ourselves. We should share the gift God has given us with others so that they may hear and believe as well. As we do, we can keep in mind that there really is no distinction. We are just like the people who have yet to believe. All have fallen short. The only difference between us and them is that we already have the gift, and it’s our job to give it to them.
Blessings,
Mary