We focus on thanksgiving & gratitude for a few weeks, and then we are pointed to celebrating the birth of the One who has given us the best deal ever: deliverance. I wrote about the connection between Abraham trying to make a deal with God and the deal God provided for us in this Higher Octane devotional a couple of years ago. Hope you enjoy this thought from Genesis 18 and 19 – add something awesome to your tank today!
Have you ever haggled over a price? Car dealers, street vendors – many will try to bargain back and forth with some sellers to get the best deal possible. In Abraham’s case, he was trying to haggle with the Lord to save Sodom and Gomorrah, perhaps to save his nephew – Lot and his family. Abraham kept pushing the case to spare the city for 50 righteous ones, then 45, 40 and all the way down to 10. Why did Abraham stop at 10? Perhaps he began to realize what the Lord already knew – none were righteous. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for their grave sins. But the Lord sent a message and a means to escape to Lot and his family.
In chapter 19, angels came to Lot and delivered him from the destruction that came to those cities. Lot was not saved because of his righteousness – but because the Lord “remembered Abraham.” (19:29) I once heard a preacher say, “God doesn’t save because of something about us, but something about Him.”
It’s hard for us to swallow all the destruction in these early Genesis accounts. The banishment from Eden, the flood, and now a couple of cities. I certainly cannot explain all that God does. But I think people were bringing this destruction down on themselves with their rejection of God. Our hope: The Old Testament always foreshadows to the Gospel. Even today, “There are none righteous, no not one.”
We would not see a righteous one until Jesus. He would be the one who would pay full price for our best deal! We have no righteousness to use for haggling with God. Thankfully, the Lord provided a messenger then (like the angels that came and alerted Lot), and an avenue of escape for us now though our Messiah, Jesus. When we ask God for mercy, He remembers Jesus – His beloved son and the One who paid the price for our sin, and we are saved. We may feel the heat from the fire and brimstone on occasion, but our ultimate salvation is a sealed deal. Praise Jesus – the Reason for the Season!
#ASD #letsmakeadeal #autism #Jesus
Manual Transmission: Shifting Gears as an Adult with Autism 