God’s Greatest Investment

Posted by on November 24, 1996 under Bulletin Articles

You are God’s greatest investment. In nothing has God investedmore than He has invested in you. He brought you into being byplacing a part of Himself in you. When our original ancestorsdecided to allow evil to become a permanent condition of the humanexperience, He committed to His most costly investment, thecreation of perfect forgiveness.

To grasp the magnitude of God’s investment (in time, frustration,sorrow, and personal cost), consider the known things required ofGod. Consider the decision to work patiently with humanity’sstubborn free wills. Consider the difficulty of forming the Nation ofIsrael. Consider Israel’s challenges to God’s purposes and patiencein Israel’s wilderness experiences. Consider the disappointmentsand setbacks God tolerated in Israel’s stubborn, hard-heartedrebelliousness generation after generation. Consider the agony ofGod’s distress when Israel’s failures necessitated exiles andcaptivities. But Israel had to exist for God to send Jesus. No Israel,no Jesus, no perfect forgiveness.

The most costly part of God’s investment was Jesus. He permitted apart of Himself, the active agent in creation, to become a humanpart of that creation. He permitted him, as a human, to endure theworst that evil could conspire. He permitted him, in true purity andinnocence, to suffer the most agonizing execution a human couldexperience. He allowed Jesus in death to wear in his body the totalsin of humanity. He allowed Jesus fully to experience an evilperson’s death.

God invested all of this in you. No one wants you to have and enjoysalvation as much as God does. God did not invest all of this todestroy you. He could have destroyed you with no investment.

God’s love was determined to save you. Having made this enormousinvestment, He will not hesitate to do anything needful to make yoursalvation certain reality. Your salvation is a daily reality and aneternal reality if you do three things. Place your confidence in theatonement of Jesus’ death. Place your trust in God’s power toresurrect. Learn to love God as He loves you.

Jesus came to save you. The patient, loving God wants no one to perish. If you chose to accept salvation through Jesus and, in love, commit yourself to God’s will, you can be certain that God will not neglect His investment. You can be assured that the same love which invested Jesus in your forgiveness will sustain you through forgiveness. In that assurance is the peace that passes all understanding.