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In Romans 8.32, the Apostle Paul asks a very good question: â..He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us allâ..how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?â.

Letâ..s walk backward through this verse, from the beginning to the end. The phrase â..all thingsâ. translates the Greek word pas. According to my Greek dictionary, pas means â..each, every (pl. all); every kind of; all, full, absolute, greatest.â. Now â..all thingsâ. includes a lot of things that are undesirable: asthma, bursitis, and cancer, for example. Paul is not telling us that God will saddle us with all the bad things of life. Rather, heâ..s telling us that God will give us all the good things of life. Eternity with God consists in the enjoyment of the best of the best of all things in heaven and earth.

Why does God give us all things? As a close reader of Romans, you already know the answer: grace. God will â..graciously give us all things.â. Grace is the unmerited favor of God. We donâ..t deserve to receive or enjoy the best of the best, but God gives it to us anyway because thatâ..s his nature.

Now the epitome of grace, the most excellent example of the best of the best, is Jesus Christ. We are given all things â..along with him.â. Whatâ..s the big deal about Jesus? Why is Paul so insistent that we receive him as Godâ..s best gift to us? Colossians 1.15-20 offers an answer. First, Jesus is the Creator of all things. According to verse 16, â..all things were created by him and for him.â. Second, he is the Sustainer of all things. According to verse 17, â..He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.â. And third, he is the Savior of all things. According to verse 20, God chose â..through [Christ] to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.â. So, if you have Jesus, you have the best of the best of both Creation and New Creation.

And that brings us, finally, to the opening statement of Romans 8.23. It is a statement about God: â..He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all.â. Jesus is not only Godâ..s best gift, he is also the guarantee of every other good gift that God gives us. In logical terms, Paul is arguing from the stronger to the lesser. In other words, if God is willing to give you the very best gift he has, then you can be confident that he will give you every other good thing too.

At the heart of the Christian faith is an unbelievably generous God. The motto of Hallmark Cards is, â..When you care enough to send the very best.â. Well, God sent the very best as a demonstration of his care for us. How can you not love him in return?