Rich

Eph. 2:4 - 6 (NKJV)
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus

I remember as a kid growing up in Key Largo, getting home from school and going out to play in the back yard. In the Keys, the back yard was water. I would spend hours scouring the bottom and under our dock for sunken treasure. Some kids' heroes were Superman and Spiderman, mine was Jacques Cousteau. Let's just say it was really hard to find a lunchbox.

Last week the Florida Deep Sea Explorers a Tampa firm release the fact that they have begun mining 17 tons of gold and silver from an undisclosed shipwreck in the Atlantic. The estimated value of the find is around $500 million dollars. I think we all have dreamt of finding that kind of abundance.

If we read the chapter too quickly, we will gloss over this phrase because on the surface our mind tells us that it is a fact that we already know. God is rich.... Already got that one. And we will read past it without getting out of the boat and going deep. We must get to the bottom of this because that is where the true treasure lies. The golden truth of this verse is not that God is rich, or even that He is rich in mercy, but that He is rich towards us. When His abundance overflows, it spills down on us. God's rich mercy was first expressed in creation, but the ultimate picture of mercy is the new creation. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. (2 Cor. 5:17)

How would you live differently if you were rich? Would you give more? Would you worry less? Would you live better? I am here to tell you that you are rich. God who is rich has directed those riches towards us, and as a result you have un-found wealth. Not monetary wealth, but a wealth of of God's mercy. So, now let me ask again, how will you live differently today knowing that you are rich in mercy? Will you give more mercy? Will you worry less? Will you live better? Try living rich today. Be extravagant.