Many of you may have seen the movie that was released two years ago, The Greatest Showman. It is a movie about the life of P.T. Barnum and his initial start of Barnum’s American Museum, that eventually becomes Barnum’s Circus.
Barnum’s museum was full of wax figures for people to pay to see, but it had very slow ticket sales. Barnum’s children suggested to their dad that he get live people for his museum and make it “Come Alive”.
Barnum took his children’s suggestion and sought out people that had unusual physical characteristics. These unusual characteristics had made some of these people to be considered freaks by others, leaving them to live a life that seemed dead. Barnum took these people with unusual characteristics and gifts and put together a performance that became Barnum’s Circus. The circus became identified as “The Greatest Show On Earth” and Barnum became “The Greatest Showman”.
Barnum became the Greatest Showman because of his gift to bring grace into the lives of these unusual people and make something special out of it. He made their seemingly dead lives to come alive into something special.
As we look at the scriptures in Ephesians 2 today, we see that God has a gift for each of us. It is the gift of grace. We might say that it’s “The Gracest Gift of All”. You might say that there is no such word as Gracest. Well, it might not be in the dictionary, but God has given us, “The Gracest Gift of All”.
The Gracest Gift of All is:
- The gift given to the one that needs it the most. v.1-3.
When you read these scriptures identifying someone that is dead in sins, disobedient to God and desirous of lustful things, you can easily see someone that is in need of God’s gift of grace. What you might miss is in verse 3 were it says that we all once conducted ourselves in this way. The Bible tells us in Rom. 3:23 that we all have sinned. Everyone including you. That means we have a need of grace. - The gift given by the one that loves you the most. v.4-5.
God’s love is described in Greek words that we would see as an abundant love—an agape love (the greatest expression of love). Rom. 5:8 tells us that God loved us even while we were sinners. God’s love could take the saying that we sometimes use in expressing love: “I love you!” The other person responds “I love you more!” Then, a response of “I love you the most!” Ending with the response “I love you the mostest!” God loves us the mostest! You probably won’t find “mostest” in the dictionary, but God loves you the mostest! - The gift given to the one that is impacted the most. v.6-7.
God has raised us up to Heavenly places and given us riches of His grace. The impact of God’s grace is not only earthly, but it is eternally impacting us. He has given us an eternal home with exceeding riches. - The gift given to the one that deserves it the least. v.8-9.
God’s gift to us is totally undeserved. It is not because of any work that we have done or any wealth that we have paid, it’s just an undeserved gift. We couldn’t be good enough or give enough to deserve the gift of God’s grace.
Only when you understand that this describes you can you understand that God’s gift is the Greatest and “Gracest Gift of All!” It is then that your life will “Come Alive!”
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