 God's secret plan, isn't really a secret to us because he tells us what it is in the Bible. It would have been a secret to the early church though. John 3:16 tells us his secret plan. God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him would not be lost but have eternal life.
2 Peter 3:13 tells us the rest of God's secret plan. But God made a promise to us. And we are waiting for what he promised—a new heaven and a new earth where goodness lives. We are currently living in between these two verses. Jesus tells us what we should be doing while we wait for the new heaven and new earth. Matthew 28:19 Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Mark 12:29-31 The most important command is this: ‘People of Israel, listen! The Lord our God is the only Lord. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second most important command is this: ‘Love your neighbour the same as you love yourself. So now you know God's secret plan!  Sin can be difficult to define, but basically it is disobeying God. How often do we disobey God by either doing what he has told us not to do, or not doing what he has told us to do? According to Exodus 20, one of the Ten Commandments is do not murder. Most of us think we are good people - we haven't killed anyone, but in Matthew 5:21 Jesus said, If you are angry with your brother, you will be judged. And if you say bad things to your brother, you will be judged by the Jewish council. And if you call your brother a fool, then you will be in danger of the fire of hell.
We've all been guilty of being angry with someone before. The reality is, we've all sinned a lot more than we like to admit. The good news is that because of the blood of Jesus, because he died and rose again, we can be forgiven. His grace is great! Are there some sins that you need to confess to God? 1 John 1:9 says, if we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins. We can trust God. He does what is right. He will make us clean from all the wrongs we have done.  The fact that God has chosen and adopted us brings glory to his Grace. Grace can also be translated as kindness. What Jesus did at the cross shines a bright light on the kindness of God. The author, Paul, was trying to get the reader excited about the grace of God and to praise him for his kindness.
When someone performs really well at a sporting event or concert, the audience gets excited and praises the performer. They cheer, wave their hands in the air, jump up and down, and dance etc. God's grace should encourage the same response from us. Praise God for his glorious grace!  Jesus is God's son, but we are God's adopted children. That blows my mind. God loves us so much that he gave up his only son who he loves, so that we could be his children too. We don't deserve it. There's nothing we can do to earn it.
I think that it takes great love to adopt the child of a stranger and raise them as your own. As adopted children of God, we will inherit eternal life with God - that's an epic inheritance! Even if you don't have a great relationship with your biological parents, or you don't know them, the creator of the universe loves you so much that he wants to adopt you as his child. |
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