You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. . . But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (Eph. 2:1, 4-5).

Long ago, there lived a king who looked out from his palace window to see his young child gathering flowers for a royal bouquet. But the child did not only gather flowers. Because he was a child, he collected weeds as well.

To help his laboring child, the king tasked his eldest son with a mission: to go and remove the weeds from his younger sibling’s bouquet and replace them with flowers gathered from the king’s own garden. 

The older son did just as his father instructed. Soon the beaming, younger child approached his father’s throne to present the beautiful bouquet to the king. “Here, my father,” he said, “are the flowers I have prepared for you.”

Only later would the younger child understand that his bouquet had been made acceptable by the gracious provision of his father who had sent the older brother to make it right. 

In a similar way, our Heavenly Father provided Christ (our elder brother) to turn our works into acceptable gifts for God. Christ’s righteousness has been substituted for our flawed and weedy works by the gracious provision of our Heavenly Father!

That’s not simply a truth to claim at the end of life as we approach God’s throne room, but rather is a grace to claim every day as celebrate Christ’s provision that makes us acceptable to God. 

Prayer:
Father, thank you for making the bouquets of my works acceptable to you by the work of Jesus – not just at the end of my life, but every day of my life. May his gracious provision for my flawed flowers make me all the more desirous of bringing more to glorify you this day and every day.