Romans 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
By sending His only Son, Jesus Christ to die for us, God was making an investment. Every investment is made with the intention of getting a return or profit. Nevertheless, investments can be risky because things may not go as expected. God expected a return from giving Jesus to die for us. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. God was investing in eternal life for us.
When we lost our original identity as God’s image, God had to come as a man to retrieve what was lost. Because God gave man dominion over the earth from the beginning, a man had to be the one to have a legal right to regain the lost image.
In Romans 5:8, we see that Christ died for us even while we were yet sinners. It was a decision of risk taken by God. He didn’t wait for us to be perfect before He sent Jesus. How sure was God that after this sacrifice, the world would accept Him? Yet, He still took that step.
In the opening scripture, the obedience of one man saved many. The return on investments must be in multiples and far more than what was initially invested. So, by giving us His Son, God expected to receive many more sons. John 1:12 Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.
We need to ask ourselves these questions often: How have I made God’s investment profitable? Have I and do I contribute anything to God’s cause that shows how grateful I am? God invested Jesus to reap a harvest of many more sons. And how do we become sons? As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Jesus must be our Lord – the one who controls our life – not just our Savior. He has finished what needed to be done for our salvation but we must now be deliberate by choosing Him as our Lord.
The investment God made was for us to reconcile others to Him. Matthew 28:19 talks about the fact that we should go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Lord. Then Hebrews 5:12 states (paraphrasing) that we have been believers for too long that we ought to be teaching by now. In John 15:8, we are also expected to bear much fruit.
There is so much God expects from us as a return on His investment in us. As we study the Word, we get to know more of these things. Can God see us and not regret dying for us? Seeing the celebration of Christmas and Easter from this perspective changes the way we behave in the season.
The Word In Clarity 