Read: Psalm 103:1-18; Romans 8:31-32
[God] who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Rom. 8:32)
Concluding my church’s Communion service was a section of thanksgiving, drawn mainly from Psalm 103. But at the end, the liturgy added today’s key verse from Romans 8.
Jesus is the proof of God’s love for the world. Someone once observed that the key word in John 3:16 is the little word so. Love is measured by how much of yourself you’re willing to give for the sake of your beloved. By that measure, God’s love is infinite because he gave his only Son to save the world. More personally, Jesus is the proof of God’s love for us: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Jesus’s death demonstrates God’s love because Jesus is God. God didn’t send someone else to die on the cross for our sins; he came to do it himself.
You maybe know and believe all that already (I hope so!). But did you ever consider this? Jesus is also the proof of God’s future blessings. Follow the apostle’s logic in Romans 8:32. God has already given Jesus for us; do you suppose then that he would withhold anything else we could ever truly need or want?
When disappointed, we sometimes shrug and say, “You can’t have it all.” Yes, you can, if you belong to Jesus—one day you will have it all!
As you pray, thank God for the promise that one day you will have it all.
David Bast is a writer and pastor who served for 23 years as the President and Broadcast Minister for Words of Hope. In his more than 40 years of devotional writing and preaching, he has been encouraging believers around the world to be shaped by God and his Word.
Prior to his ministry and work at Words of Hope, Dave served as a pastor for 18 years in congregations in the Reformed Church in America. A graduate of Hope College and Western Theological Seminary, he is the author of nine devotional books and Bible studies, including God of My Days,Why Doesn't God Act More Like God,Christ in the Psalms, andA Gospel for the World.
Dave and his wife, Betty Jo, have four children and eight grandchildren. Dave enjoys reading, growing tomatoes, and avidly follows the Detroit Tigers.
