For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die, but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (ESV)

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It’s been a long day, but you’re finally pulling onto the highway to head home. Just your luck, you get stuck in the right lane behind a car going at the supersonic speed of 40 miles an hour as all the other cars whip past you at the normal 65. Finally, you are almost home and remember you forgot to get dog food… so you spin around and hit the pet store real fast. You make Olympic record time running in, but find yourself in line at the checkout behind the local cat lady trying to show all the pictures of her - what feels like - a million cats to the teller. When you get home, your dogs have torn the trash apart and lovingly messed on the floor.  

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Now, I don’t know about you, but my pulse rate went up just typing that! Our passage today starts out with “while we were still weak.” Eugene Peterson’s The Message says it this way: “…when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have known what to do anyway.” How many of us would have been screaming at the car in front of us on the highway or muttering under our breath to the cat lady as we feebly try to embrace the weak. Thank God, the passage progresses and doesn’t end there – “But God showed his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

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The past couple days, we have been focusing on how we lead the way in generosity, and you might be thinking to yourself, What does this passage have to do with that? Or, Why did we just walk through a scenario that seems to be more focused on my frustration than on giving?

Ephesians 1:4 says, "For he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.” We serve a God that is outside of what we understand as time; he was and is and is to come. When our God humbled himself to become human, he did so with the full vision of what man is. He knew the mess, he knew the selfishness, and he knew the path to redeem us all. Jesus gave all of him for us, not just dying on a tree but bearing all our sin and taking the punishment for that sin.  

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Jesus saw us through perfect love and gave his all to us. This is the key; we are called to love people like Christ loves us. Is that how we see the slowpoke on the highway or the crazy cat lady? Sadly, I can often say no, so where do we go from there? Well, Jesus knows exactly the answer: Matthew 16:25 says to daily deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow him.  

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Jesus is no stranger to the human brain; after all, alongside being God, he is also fully man. He understands the frustration of this walk between the worlds, and showing the Kingdom will always be side we have to choose. He shows us this by doing it. He walked with his cross and was nailed to it. When we find ourselves in those times where we just want to shout MOOVE, think about the generous gift Jesus gave you, the incredible gift you don’t deserve yet are fully immersed in.  

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When we are faced with the struggles of life, remember this generous gift you have been given, pick up your cross, and love like Christ so we can live out the mission we have been called into!  

Jesus, you are so, so good. Before you made us, you saw us and you saved us. Jesus, give us your heart for those we interact with every day. Give me a generous heart that wants to share the gift I have been given with everyone I meet. Jesus, we praise you and lift your name on high.  Amen.