There is a new way to use the word extra these days. In modern vernacular, it means “excessive, dramatic behavior; doing the absolute most.” So, if a person skipped out of the room after hearing some good news, we might say that person was being “extra.” Or if someone decorated a birthday party with so many balloons you could not see the floor, we could say that person was being “extra.”
The Bible goes out of its way to express how “extra” our God is. He is “able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine,” St. Paul tells us in Ephesians 3:20. Jesus talks about the gifts we receive when we give as “a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over” (Luke 638). Then we can’t help but remember the 12 extra baskets of leftovers remaining after Jesus fed the 5000. He miraculously provided more than was even needed.
This same concept can be applied to God’s love. As the contemporary song “One Thing Remains” by Jesus Culture professes, “Your love never fails. It never gives up. It never runs out on me.” We don’t deserve any of God’s love, yet he gives us more than enough. As the Psalmist says, “Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds” (Psalm 36:5). There is no place where God’s love cannot reach. As God’s forgiven and free people, we are reminded, “from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16). His blessings are heaped upon us.
So how about being a little “extra” in a good way in response to God’s goodness to us? Can you give a little extra in your offering this week? Can you give a little extra time helping your children with their homework? Can you be a little extra caring to your spouse? It doesn’t take much. But a little can go a long way. Just ask the boy who had a little extra food to share, which Jesus turned into enough to feed a multitude and more.
