Because of God’s great mercy and love.

Today we receive encouragement to live to love with Jesus from Rom. 4:11. Romans 4:11 and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them, It’s not a small thing that God credited righteousness to Abraham while he was uncircumcised. We learn from this verse that God justified Abraham by faith before he had done anything required by God. He did it for two good reasons. 1). So that Abraham might be the father of everyone who believes in Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile. 2). So that God might credit righteousness to everyone who believes in Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile. Remember how exciting this was to Paul? In chapter 1:16 he wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” This verse continued Paul’s line of reason that boasting of anything we have done in the presence of God is excluded by the gospel. Rather, all of the glory goes to God. What motivated God to credit righteousness to Abraham and all of his faith-descendants? Paul answered that question clearly in Eph. 2:4-10 and also encouraged his readers that the way they live is also God’s work of love. Ephesians 2:4 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” It was God’s great mercy and love that motivated Him to provide salvation as a favor. And that salvation includes living to love with Jesus. To walk in the good works God prepared for us in Christ is another way of saying we live to love with Jesus. We are His workmanship which means God gets all the glory as we love with Him. Now tha t’s encouraging, isn’t it? Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com