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Last updated on: April 22, 2020 at 11:38 am by Matt Pearson

Double 2020-04-22T11:38:24-05:00 Matt Pearson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

“. . . she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.” (Isaiah 40:2, emphasis mine)

Though a dream for the consumer, it would be a horrible business model. Completely unsustainable.Â

What if CarMax gave you two cars for every one you agreed to pay for?

What if every item at the grocery store was buy one, get two free?

What if every time you bought a tank of gas, you got a voucher for two free fill ups?

What if you borrowed $500.00 from the bank and they promised to throw in an extra thousand on top of your no interest loan?

What if you owed someone $5,000.00 and they approached you – forgave your debt – and gave you $10,000.00 in return?

What if your mortgage company provided two houses for free in addition to the one you agreed to pay for – one in the mountains and one at the beach?Â

What if, for every $100 purchase at Amazon, you received a $200 gift card?

What if, for every filet you ordered at Stoney River, they gave you two more – at no charge – to take home?

What if, for every ‘fender bender’ you had, you car insurance premium dropped?

This would be a consumer’s dream. But a completely unsustainable business model. It simply wouldn’t work.

But what if I told you that for every sin you have ever committed – EVER – you received twice the amount of grace from God?

What if, for all the guilt and shame and disobedience you have heaped up over the years, you received favor from the Lord that doubled what you deserved for your sins?

How would your soul be impacted if you really believed that God the Father repaid your sin, not with just grace to cover your sin, but double the grace? What if you lived out of an overflow of grace, not with the false assumption that you have just enough to squeak by? What if you lived as if grace overflowed to you, rather than assuming the next slip-up would send you to God’s bad side?

The world can’t work this way. I just can’t be. Everything would eventually collapse faster than a COVID-19 outbreak.

But God doesn’t work the way the world does. God needs nothing from us. He is the everlasting source of everything, especially grace.

Remember what Jesus’ best friend said about Him in the first chapter of his gospel? “. . . we have all received grace upon grace from His fullness.” (John 1:16) Or, what about Paul when it hit him? “But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” (Romans 5:20b)

Has it ever really landed on you that, with Jesus, you don’t just get grace to squeak by? You don’t just get some to make sure you are covered for the day and need to work hard the next day to “stay in good graces.” No, no, no, no, no! If Isaiah and John and Paul are right – every sin you commit is repaid with double grace! Oh. My. Word.

This doesn’t mean we sin more so we can receive more grace (see Romans 6). That would miss the point entirely. This means we are liberated from sin. We don’t have to let sin, and the sins we committed in the past, plague us. It means we don’t have to fear the sins we will commit in the future. It means we are lavishly more than covered to be in the richest of and most intimate of relationships with our Creator, our loving Father. It means we don’t act in order to get. It means we live because we already have.

Let this land on you! Go there mentally and emotionally and spiritually! Tally up your sins. Consider the ways you have rebelled against God. Then quickly think about how they are covered. THEN think about how you have received DOUBLE the grace for all your sins. It is breathtaking.

This is a horrible business model. Won’t work in our economy.

But this is the only way for the Christ follower. It’s not a dream. It’s a reality.

I double-dare you to live into it.

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