Extravagance – As Only God Can Do

I will meditate on your majestic, glorious splendor and your wonderful miracles. Psalm 145:1 (NLT)

What do you give your spouse on your 50^th anniversary? Flowers, candy, jewelry, travel — all top the list of great gifts. All the anniversary suggestion charts, whether traditional or modern, are gold. This makes sense since throughout history gold has been a sign of great wealth and luxury. Fifty years together deserves the best! Naturally, a beautiful bouquet of flowers should be given, along with the carefully selected gift.

However, Lee Wilson of Pratt, Kansas decided he had to do something really unique for their 50^th anniversary. Instead of driving to the big city of Wichita, Kansas to shop for something special, Lee climbed onto his tractor and started plowing – 80 acres to be exact. He knew Renee loved sunflowers, so instead of a nice bouquet, he planted the 80 acres in sunflowers! According to Mr. Wilson, that is “about 1.2 million sunflowers in this field or 15 thousand flowers per acre!

What did Renee think of this extravagant gesture of love? “It made me feel very special. It couldn’t have been a more perfect anniversary gift than a field of sunflowers.”

Extravagant is the best word I could use to describe the story. The dictionary defines the term as “given to lavish or imprudent expenditure. Exceeding reasonable bounds; excessive; unrestrained.”

Extravagant is an appropriate word that describes God. We often think and rightly so in terms such as compassionate, long-suffering, holy, King of kings, Eternal God, and the list goes on. However, extravagant is not always on our lists. If it is, unfortunately, it is used in terms of cheap trinkets.  Since God’s extravagance is unlimited, what would be on your list?

God’s extravagance is seen in creation! “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” (Psalm 19:1)

From the very beginning, the words, “So God created” set extravagance into motion.  There are roughly ~73,000 tree species globally, among which ~9,000 tree species are yet to be discovered. (PNAS) “A study in 2011 predicted there are some 8.7 million species on Earth, and we’ve identified maybe 1.6 million of them.” (National Geographic) Traveling at the speed of light would take you about 25,000 years to reach the middle of the Milky Way Galaxy. (Amer. Museum of Natural History) The mind-blowing extravagance of God’s creation is on display every second of the day for us to enjoy and be amazed.

God’s extravagance is seen in forgiveness! There is a growing segment of modern cultural thought that you are forever bound to the sins of the past. You are judged not by what you have become but by your failures of the past, even those of your ancestors or worst, your ancestors’ neighbors. In the current trend, you can never pass the past. Thankfully, God doesn’t see it that way because He is extravagant in forgiveness. Forgiveness that is “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” (Ps 103:12)

David drank deeply from this extravagance when he wrote “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.” (Ps 32:5)

Jesus finished teaching the section commonly called the Lord’s Prayer with how the extravagance of forgiveness impacted life. “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, you Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matt 6:14-15)

Peter thought he was being extravagant when he offered to forgive up to seven times instead of the religiously accepted three times. Jesus taught him that extravagant forgiveness was unlimited. “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven.” (Matt 18:21-22)

God’s extravagance is seen in grace! Greg Laurie in a Christian Post article shares how Goliath, “the giant David killed with his slingshot was not always a giant! He was once a helpless little baby.” It is the same way with our sins, they start out very small. They are cute little things but as you nurture and feed the little things, then one day you discover they grew up into giants, which destroy your relationship with God and with others.

You would be left without hope if it were not for the extravagance of God’s grace. You would no longer be that cute, cuddly Goliath but you become the very giant you despise. God didn’t wait for us to get things in order but “demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:8) Extravagant grace that doesn’t make sense except “because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” (Eph 2:4-5)

God’s extravagance is seen in all of life! A million sunflowers are fading beauty compared to the world created by the hand of God. “For I am fearfully and wonderfully made,” (Ps 139:14) to live in a “universe created by the word of God,” (Heb 11:3) knowing “those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

God’s extravagance is seen for all eternity! “For the Christian, death is not the end of adventure but a doorway from a world where dreams and adventures shrink, to a world where dreams and adventures forever expand.” (Randy Alcorn) You can only guess if JM Barrie knew how incredibly powerful the line he gave Peter Pan in his novel was: “To die will be an awfully big adventure.” What a fantastic adventure awaits the heirs of salvation and we get to share it with “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language!” (Rev 7:9)

God’s extravagance is seen in His love! For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Jn 3:16-17

Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen! (Rev 7:12)

God is great!