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The War Cry | AUGUST 2014
"
What if you wanted to
`own' the ocean?
"
were as powerless as you to claim ownership. They
might claim sovereignty a few miles from shore,
but that only constitutes what goes on in and
on the ocean, not the ocean itself. They have no
claim on the smallest fish or a single drop of water.
It is free, a freedom so expansive that money has no
meaning.
When we speak of the grace of God we are talking
about something so expansive that no calculation of its
worth is adequate. Even if it was, it could not be owned
by anyone. Throwing all your works into the ocean of
grace will not buy you one share of it. It is the gift of
God. It is not deeded to anyone, but available to all.
Like salt or water, eternal life is one of the ingredients
of grace. It is mixed in with a host of other things for
the life yielded to Christ. It is not just something "out
yonder," but something that begins the moment a
heart is yielded to the Lord. Eternal life breaks into
the stream of time and lifts us to that which is
timeless. It includes sharing in the divine na-
ture, being sustained by the life of God, having
all things--even those we deem terrible and
painful--work for our good. Eternal life is part of
our identity as well as our destiny. It is the prom-
ise that, as deformed by sin we may be, God
is charting a course of correction so we will
become all we were ever meant to be.
If your life ended with your next
breath, what would it be? The wages
of death? Or eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord?
Lt. Colonel Allen Satterlee
is Editor�in�Chief
and National Literary Secretary.