Access, Favor and the Gift
Jun 8th 2023
2 Chronicles 15:2KJV “. . . The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you
Foreign nationals have made significant financial contributions; reputed crime figures and/or their associates have been entertained at the White House; the Lincoln Bedroom has been used to solicit financial contributions from wealthy supporters. The furor over campaign contributions always looms large.
It is not surprising that people of means would want access to other powerful people and the opportunity that goes with it to influence policy.
If the price of access is making of large financial contributions, so be it! And what does it matter that those making contributions are not all citizens and not entitled to vote her in this great land? Receiving financial gifts is not peculiar to any political party. And regardless to whom the gift is given, it will always bring remembrance of the giver as a friend and endear the friend for favor on the playing field.
It is somewhat different with us.
We have been granted the rare opportunity to come before the ruler at anytime. We are encouraged to come, before the matter at hand becomes unbearable or we are tempted to do wrong. We need schedule no appointment, and no funds have power to introduce us.
The introduction was made long ago at the Cross. It is as though the tickets are being held at the box office and we need only go there and identify ourselves. The price of admission (the sacrifice of Jesus), is God’s gift to us. And this access is altogether better than anything we could purchase: it is access to the Absolute Ruler of everything!
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1 Peter 1:18-19(NLT2) 18 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.
Romans 10:7-9 (NIV) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?'” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.