Many of us view God like an insurance company. Though the company is marketed as being for you with commercials showing agents popping out of nowhere and solving all your woes with a snap, yet should you actually file a claim they will do all they can to keep from paying you. They'll shift responsibility, drag their feet, or disqualify you through contractual loopholes because you forgot to cross an "i" or dot a "t". The higher the claim amount the more vehemently they will fight to find a way to not pay for it. The underlying reality is they are only for themselves under the ruse of being for you, they sell you grace, but have no desire to deliver. They serve you as long as it ultimately serves themselves. Insurance salesmen are standing by, ready and willing to answer all your sales related questions and insure you the moon, but try and reach a claims agent and you'll often be forced to navigate corporate phone mazes, endure long waiting times, and should you get through you'll be inundated with tasks, paperwork, and hoops to jump through, beating you through attrition, leaving you wishing you had never filed a claim in the first place... and for them, that's a victory.
Likewise we view grace like the insurance itself. Like the more we contribute the better coverage we get. Or we see it as something only to be used sparingly and maybe not even then. Perhaps for something out of our control, but what about when we're at fault? Then we often hesitate to file a claim, concerned it will go on our record, rates may go up, or the insurer might drop us altogether. Some so worried they will abuse it never use it at all. The amount of times people pay out of pocket for that which they have also been paying insurance to cover is staggering, yet we do the same with grace (well we try).
Many view God in the same light, missing the fact that He LOVES to pay out claims because doing so restores His children, regardless if it's self inflicted (Isa. 53:10, Mat. 1:21). What's important to Him is that you remain fully restored and debt-free. God is a God who not only loves paying off your debts, but announces how excessively rich He is (Eph. 2:4, Exo. 34:6) and invites you to come and boldly make withdraws anytime! (Heb. 4:16). Should you file a claim with God 70x7 times, He will no less hasten to pay it the 490th as He did the 1st (Mat. 18:22). Why? Because He WANTS to and can! As the cross demonstrates, zeroing out your balance means far more to Him than the efforts needed for Him to accomplish it (Heb. 12:2). While the goal of the insurance company is to benefit themselves at your cost, God is just the opposite, His goal is to benefit you at His cost (Mat. 20:28) even paying your claims that haven't occurred yet, and amazingly paying the claims of those who are insured with His competitors. (1 John 2:1-2, 1 Tim. 4:10).
His company model would be frowned upon in the world because He's the kind of salesmen who does everything He can to give you all the insurance for free, no strings attached (Rom. 6:23, Gal. 5:1) and pays for them with His own blood, sweat, and tears (1 Pet. 1:19, Luke 22:44, John 12:27). He commissions His agents to watch over you (Psa. 91:11-12), and should the law come knocking, incredibly He takes the blame and vehemently defends your innocence before the magistrates (Rom. 8:33-34), always presenting you faultless, unblemished, and above reproach, as one who had nothing to do with the crimes He's now taking ownership of (Col. 1:22, Jude 1:24). Knowing death is imminent, He prepared His most trusted Helper (John 14:16) to continue with you forever after His departure, thinking solely of you as He went to the cross (Heb. 12:2). In His will He named you as the full beneficiary of everything that He earned in this life, crediting it to you as if you had earned it (Rom. 8:17, 2 Cor. 5:21).
The worst thing a person can do with someone like Him is not accept His free gift. Not just for our sake, but for His. If you're unwilling to make such an insurance claim for yourself, than do it for Him! God is a cheerful giver and there's nothing more He wants from you than for you to let Him bail you out, bless you, love on you, and spend all eternity in fellowship with you as His child (Heb. 11:6). He cares not who's at fault (Rom. 4:8) nor how many offenses there are (Rom. 5:20), He only cares that He gets to fix it and restore you. That is His hearts desire, and that is what held His arms out wide on the cross (John 10:18, Heb. 12:2). So for God's sake embrace His grace and make His heart glad and joy full! (Luke 15:7, 10, 32).
