Riches Weren't Enough

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

The first verse above and many other verses in scripture reveal and imply that God is a very rich God. He has glorious riches. He has the whole earth and everything in it. He is rich in love and mercy. He gives out of an endless supply of gifts. He created the heavens and the whole universe from nothing. God is rich in every way.

But, when it came to saving the people He created and loves, riches weren’t enough. If there was a price tag to buy us over, He would have paid for it out of His infinite riches. No amount of wealth, however, was enough to redeem us. The only way for us to be reconciled to Him was through sacrifice. Jesus had to be sacrificed in order for our sins to be forgiven and subsequently our lives made new.

Hebrews says, "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." Ouch. Blood isn't something we can earn like our wages. Our bodies make it, but they cannot remain alive and shed as much blood as is required for forgiveness at the same time.

In this light, it seems all the more foolish to ever try to earn our salvation. If God, who has more riches than we can comprehend and more than all the riches in the earth, could not buy our salvation, then we stand absolutely no chance of ever being able to afford it. Yet sometimes we still try to work for it.

We receive Christ as our savior and accept His forgiveness as we begin a journey with Him. Then, when we stumble or mess up thereafter, we work to make it better instead of abiding in His grace. But our own work can't even make up for the littlest of stumbles; we must rely on Jesus Christ alone.

We also must consider how this sacrifice affected God who was likely used to creating and providing everything out of His wealth. Suddenly, He had to sacrifice, literally giving of Himself so that we may be made right for Him.

*Father God, thank you for sacrificing Jesus. We recognize that you have so much wealth but even with that the only way you could forgive was by sacrificing. Lord, we see this was a very weighty thing for you to do to redeem us, and we are grateful, though we do not understand it entirely. We repent of trying to work for the covering of any of our sins; please teach us to rely completely and fully on the innocent blood Jesus shed. Help us to live in your grace. It's in His name we pray, amen!

God, the richest being in existence, could not pay for salvation with wealth, so we never will be able to either. We must absolutely rely on Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of all sins big and small, old and new.

Blessings Daily Devotionals – WB Journal