Daily Word of Grace # 140 (September 28, 2020)
In Jane Austen’s masterpiece, Pride and Prejudice (1813) Elizabeth Bennett shares with her sister Jane her honest opinion of human nature: “There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense.” Perhaps you can relate to Elizabeth Bennett. I think she is absolutely right in her observation of the “inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense.” But while this may be true of human beings, it is the exact opposite with God. God’s love is consistent all the time, no matter what, even in the midst of—especially in the midst of—all the inconsistencies in our lives. Moreover, we can place not just a “little dependence” but our entire dependence upon God’s unconditional, faithful, and yes, consistent love demonstrated definitively in the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Biblically, it is faith—dependence on the merit of who Jesus is and what Jesus did rather than our own inconsistencies—by which we are saved (Ephesians 2:8). Moreover, even now, God’s consistent love for you means God really loves you and thinks well of you.
Love and Prayers,
Dave