Surprises

Romans 4:¹⁶ “So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it… if we have faith like Abraham’s…”

So far in our study of the fundamentals of grace, we have seen that G is God’s Gift To Me. R is Received By Faith. Yes, we will get baptized following Jesus’ example. And we will take Holy Communion because Jesus says we should. However, grace is neither received by baptism nor by communion. Grace is received by faith. Ephesians 2:^8-9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (NIV). If grace was by works, imagine how unpleasant heaven would be. People will be walking around showing off their works and mansions. And those who made it by the skin of their teeth will be hiding in corners because the big boys are around.

Guess what? Everybody, from who you would consider the “biggest saint” to who you would consider the “smallest saint”, received God’s grace by faith for free. The truth is there isn’t anything like a big saint or a small saint. We all are saved by grace. Heaven is an equalizer. We will all be joyful and grateful that we made it to heaven, no matter how big we are on earth. When you get to heaven, there are three main surprises you are going to experience. The first is you will be surprised by the people that you don’t expect to see in heaven, but they are there. You will see people in heaven and you will be shocked that they made it to Heaven, because by your own judgment, they should not be in heaven. But God is bigger than you.

Do not expect that God will be reduced to your level of pettiness. Sometimes, we don’t even expect God to bless certain people because we are not happy with them. But God blesses them anyway. Who can query Him? That is why you have to stay humble. You will see people in Heaven and you will be shocked that they made it to Heaven. There are people that I pray make it to heaven because they are souls that God loves and died for. For example, Fela, a lot of people will be shocked to see Fela in heaven. The second surprise is the people you don’t in Heaven. Your third surprise is that you yourself made it to Heaven. The gratitude flowing from everyone is one of the things that will make Heaven beautiful. Imagine the Queen of England, if she makes it to Heaven, on her knees thanking God. Everyone who makes it to heaven has one song on their lips and it is a song of gratitude. Romans 4:¹⁶ “So people receive God’s promise by having faith. This happens so the promise can be a free gift…” (NCV).

Prayer: Father, I thank You for the gift of Your saving grace in my life. Help me to stay humble and grateful for Your grace overflow in my life, in the Name of Jesus. Amen!