One of the great things about the Christian faith is that we declare God's favor upon people. God looks upon the people of this world with a great deal of favor. God's preferred way of looking at people is according to His favor. It's only when that favor has been rejected that God looks upon us according to His wrath or anger. But that's not what God would prefer. He would rather see everyone receive His favor.
In one respect, there is the kind of favor that God pours out upon every single person who has life in this world. It's the favor of being one of His created beings. In that sense, God is the Father of everyone in that He created us all. From the time we were conceived, God knit us together and formed us. His hand is the one behind the DNA combinations that formed who we are. His hand is the one that gently shaped us as we grew from a single sperm and egg into the human beings that we are.
So that's one element of God's favor. He is our Father as our creator. But there is also a second kind of favor that God seeks to pour out on the people of this world. This favor is found in what He accomplished through the cross and resurrection of Jesus. It's the favor that takes us flawed, sinful human beings and creates a new life, one that is right with God in every aspect. It's the favor that speaks of the forgiveness of sins, and the restoration of perfection that God intended to be present with His creation from the beginning.
I truly believe that we have times where we tend to limit the kind of favor that we believe God pours out on the world. There can be times where Christians say that the whole world stands in God's favor, and there are other times where Christians say that only Christians have God's favor. I see how that can sound kind of confusing, and I believe it's because we fail to distinguish between the two kinds of favor.
God looks upon the world with a universal kind of favor. It's the favor in which He sees what He has made and rejoices in it. He wants to see that it is taken care of, and so He provides food and home and family. It's the kind of favor that is not unique to Christians, but is found throughout all creation, even among those who do not know God or call upon His name.
God loves to pour out His favor on the world. He does pour that universal favor out. The thing is, God also wants that more specific favor, found in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, to be found in all the same places as His universal favor. So He sends His people, the ones who have received this second favor, the forgiveness of sins and new life, out to all of those who have received His universal favor, with the hope that we will declare that specific favor in their lives as well.
I don't know if you've given much thought to that, but I think it's a distinction that is worth making. When we properly distinguish God's favor, we can say that God looks upon the whole world with favor, and that God's favor is found among those whom He has redeemed. We therefore strive to be conscious of which favor we are talking about, then.
In one respect, there is the kind of favor that God pours out upon every single person who has life in this world. It's the favor of being one of His created beings. In that sense, God is the Father of everyone in that He created us all. From the time we were conceived, God knit us together and formed us. His hand is the one behind the DNA combinations that formed who we are. His hand is the one that gently shaped us as we grew from a single sperm and egg into the human beings that we are.
So that's one element of God's favor. He is our Father as our creator. But there is also a second kind of favor that God seeks to pour out on the people of this world. This favor is found in what He accomplished through the cross and resurrection of Jesus. It's the favor that takes us flawed, sinful human beings and creates a new life, one that is right with God in every aspect. It's the favor that speaks of the forgiveness of sins, and the restoration of perfection that God intended to be present with His creation from the beginning.
I truly believe that we have times where we tend to limit the kind of favor that we believe God pours out on the world. There can be times where Christians say that the whole world stands in God's favor, and there are other times where Christians say that only Christians have God's favor. I see how that can sound kind of confusing, and I believe it's because we fail to distinguish between the two kinds of favor.
God looks upon the world with a universal kind of favor. It's the favor in which He sees what He has made and rejoices in it. He wants to see that it is taken care of, and so He provides food and home and family. It's the kind of favor that is not unique to Christians, but is found throughout all creation, even among those who do not know God or call upon His name.
God loves to pour out His favor on the world. He does pour that universal favor out. The thing is, God also wants that more specific favor, found in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, to be found in all the same places as His universal favor. So He sends His people, the ones who have received this second favor, the forgiveness of sins and new life, out to all of those who have received His universal favor, with the hope that we will declare that specific favor in their lives as well.
I don't know if you've given much thought to that, but I think it's a distinction that is worth making. When we properly distinguish God's favor, we can say that God looks upon the whole world with favor, and that God's favor is found among those whom He has redeemed. We therefore strive to be conscious of which favor we are talking about, then.
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