God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:7).
Now that my daughter is getting a bit older, I decided it was finally time to introduce her to the world of Harry Potter. Ideally, this would have been done through the books, but since I only have her for short periods of time each week, we chose to watch the movies instead.
At the beginning of the first film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry still doesn’t know the truth about himself, and much of the movie is dedicated to him discovering that he’s actually a powerful wizard. This has been true about him all along, but it had been hidden from him. Without knowing his true identity, he believed the false description of himself he’d received from his abusive foster parents—that he was unwanted, unloved, and a worthless nuisance.
In one of the scenes where Harry begins to discover the truth, we see him shopping for all the supplies he will need as a student. He asks Hagrid, the giant-man who has come to take Harry to wizard school, how in the world he’s supposed to pay for all the required items. Hagrid responds by casually telling Harry not to worry about all that. In the next scene, we see Harry’s face begin to glow as the door to his family’s vault swings open. It’s full of gold coins—more than Harry will ever need—and it all belongs to him.
As I watched this scene, I was reminded of how we as believers have already received the incredible wealth of God’s grace and kindness. How many of us, though, have lived much of our lives unaware of the treasure we’ve been given? Much like Harry, we still believe we’re penniless beggars relying on the generosity of others to meet our daily needs. In reality, we have been given the key to heaven’s vault and received full access to God’s grace for our lives today.
But that’s not really the main idea of this verse. What Ephesians 2:7 is telling us, is that God’s main purpose for showering us with His grace and kindness wasn’t for our glory—it was for His. He did it, in today’s language, to show off.
I like to think this is already playing out in heaven today. I imagine the angels looking down as they watch mankind destroy our own lives and the lives of those around us, which would lead them to question how anyone could see anything worth saving in humanity. But then I imagine God responding, “Just wait. You’ll see. When the time comes and heaven is full of My redeemed saints, you will understand. My grace and kindness will never be more apparent to you—or to all of creation—than it will be in that day.”
Our salvation will be a shining example for all eternity of how vast and powerful God’s grace and kindness truly are.
This post is an excerpt from my new book, 52 Amazing Things That Became True of You the Moment You Trusted Christ. If you enjoyed what you read here, be sure to check out the book for 51 more awesome truths about how God sees you!
