His Extravagance...

We got to go to Galiano this past weekend. In fact we just got back today because we missed our ferry home last night as it was overbooked...but that's another story.

I love going to Galiano. I will be forever thankful that my in-laws bought a timeshare there. It's one of the most rejuvenating and invigorating places to go. There is so much beauty there.

As I was walking and driving around this time what struck me was the beauty that God created that we just pass by so easily. He created things like many different types of wildflowers that are just stunning...just to be extravagant. I happened to notice them this time. I really started to think about the extravagance of it all. I am such a practical person. I really struggle with buying things that aren't absolutely necessary when I could use that money to give to someone who could feed someone who is starving or give medicine to someone who is dying. But you look around at creation and you will see SUCH extravagance. I mean start with something like colour. God could have made everything with NO colour. Or He could have made everything very boring. But everything is so finely detailed, intricate in design, and beautiful...even the most "simple" of things. I think He enjoys being "Creator". I think it brings a big smile to His face.

But back to extravagance...these wildflowers that I saw were extravagant. And you know, a lot of them had sprung up right in the middle of a path so that it would be easy to trample them. Others had sprung up in out of the way places where not a soul would see them. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think God takes deep delight in the littlest of things that surprise us with their beauty. I think He was waiting with baited breathe for me to notice those wee little flowers. I think He was watching and when He saw the delight on my face...I know He smiled. Fanciful thinking? Perhaps...but I doubt it.

For me, this extravagance, simply pointed me back to Him. It is a reminder of Him and His extravagant gift of life He holds out to all who will accept.

Here are things the Bible has to say about His extravagance:

Ephesians 3:13-15 "My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God."

Romans 11:32-34 "Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom? It's way over our heads. We'll never figure it out. Is there anyone around who can explain God? Anyone smart enough to tell him what to do? Anyone who has done him such a huge favor that God has to ask his advice? Everything comes from him; Everything happens through him; Everything ends up in him. Always glory! Always praise! Yes. Yes. Yes."

Job 37:1-3 "Whenever this happens, my heart stops— I'm stunned, I can't catch my breath. Listen to it! Listen to his thunder, the rolling, rumbling thunder of his voice. He lets loose his lightnings from horizon to horizon, lighting up the earth from pole to pole. In their wake, the thunder echoes his voice, powerful and majestic. He lets out all the stops, he holds nothing back. No one can mistake that voice— His word thundering so wondrously, his mighty acts staggering our understanding. He orders the snow, 'Blanket the earth!' and the rain, 'Soak the whole countryside!' No one can escape the weather—it's there. And no one can escape from God. Wild animals take shelter, crawling into their dens, When blizzards roar out of the north and freezing rain crusts the land. It's God's breath that forms the ice, it's God's breath that turns lakes and rivers solid. And yes, it's God who fills clouds with rainwater and hurls lightning from them every which way. He puts them through their paces—first this way, then that— commands them to do what he says all over the world. Whether for discipline or grace or extravagant love, he makes sure they make their mark."

Romans 5:14-16 "Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man's sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God's gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, will do! There's no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift. The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence. If death got the upper hand through one man's wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides?"

2 Corinthians 9:7-9 "God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you're ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it, He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out. This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God."

These things are true. I have witnessed them in my own life. His extravagance from a simple flower to much MUCH bigger things.

Think on Him and His way of doing life today...I don't know a better way.