Scandalous FavourSample

ENVIABLE FAVOURITISM

‘Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whose strength is in You.’ Psalm 84:5 AMPC

The Apostle John always boasted in Jesus’ love for him. The Apostle Peter boasted continuously in his own love for Jesus. As a result, John walked in enviable favour with Jesus. 

Everyone could see it, but they didn’t quite understand why - they thought it was natural favouritism. It wasn’t. We know God never shows partiality. 

It was simply that John put his faith in ‘God’s love for him’ not in ‘his love for God’. John’s faith was in God’s grace, not his own works. His trust in God’s grace opened up the enviable space of radical favour for John, a favour that is available to us all. 

Jesus illustrated this truth for us when He told the astonishing story of labourers hired to work all day. The labourers agreed to work for set wages. Late in the day, the boss brought in some extra men to work the final hour on a grace arrangement, with no set wages. The boss then gave the men who had only worked a short time the same amount as those who had worked all day. The men who had worked all day for their contracted pay were angry at the boss. His reply was:

“Are you envious because I am generous?”

Sadly, the answer to this question for many is yes; they are envious! They are stuck in a work/wages mentality, an internal core agreement with God based on earning and payment. This kind of thinking can NEVER find its way into a generous grace/gift position. 

Whenever our faith is in what we have earned, we short circuit grace. When we believe for His generosity to flow towards us, as the righteousness of Christ, that’s what we get. In superabundant supply.

“It’s not fair,” the envious person says. “You don’t deserve that. You haven’t worked for it.” BINGO! That’s the very nature of grace. 

Grace is unmerited favour. It is, by definition, not fair. It’s never about our work, it’s all about God’s generous heart, and the finished work of the cross. 

So get your eyes off your work and your ‘deserving’ and start believing upon radical, scandalous, unfair, generous favour. God delights to be generous with you.

Reset your mind this year according to the New Covenant of Grace. 

Repent – which means think differently. Tear up your core agreement with God that is based on work/wages. See it nailed to the cross forever. 

Start operating from a place of bold faith in grace/unmerited favour. And believe for the unfair, unforced, enviable favouritism of Christ in your life.

Beloved, all things are possible with God, and all things are possible for the one who believes.