For Paul, the grace of the LORD carried him through in spite of physical infirmity and weakness.:
"For this thing I besought the Lord, thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, 'My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." (2 Corinthians 12:8-9)
Whatever Paul's disability, it did not slow down the kingdom purposes that the LORD had planned for Paul. Paul was a "young man...whose name was Saul" (Acts 7:58) when his approving presence witnessed the stoning of the first Christian martyr, Stephen. Some brief time later, Saul came to know Jesus personally and it is believed that Paul, aka Saul, was in his early sixties when he was executed for his faith in Jesus, at which time his 30-40 years of working for the Lord, and for the increase of the kingdom of God, came to an end.
God's grace was Paul sufficiency. God's grace was Paul's strength in the face of human weakness and trembling. It was God's grace that carried Paul all the way home to heaven.
Can God's grace do any less for us? Might it be less sufficient in some way for us?
Or is God's grace God's grace and thus impossible to be less than is ever needed?
What exactly does it mean to have God's grace in our lives?
Since the word grace as used in the Bible means "unmerited favor," then for me God's grace in my life means that He "keeps" me as a favored child, often in ways I cannot see, and always for reasons I cannot understand. When the world has rejected you over and over and you begin to believe that you are worthy only to be rejected rather than that perhaps the wrong people have been in your life, it becomes so difficult to understand why God would both love us and favor us.
But God's grace means more than knowing that He "keeps" us because He favors us. The flip side of grace is that God's favor towards us causes His chastisement to be on us whenever He deems it is necessary in order to "keep" us. The rod of correction in our lives is almost always painful, just as the surgeon's knife cutting away the cancer in order to save our life is also painful. But we know the analogy well, that without the pain that comes with that "pruning" away of those things that are leading us to destruction (aka eternal separation from God), we cannot flourish and be fruitful as we were meant to be when we were first chosen.
Let's look at the word "chosen" for a minute. Do we fully appreciate the meaning of that small word?
Are we careful to not neglect the great gift God has given us through His Son, Jesus: our salvation. And all because He "chose" to open our eyes to the truth of who Jesus is. We did not do that on our own. We might have made the decision to receive Him into our hearts, once we learned of Him. But we could never have learned of Him, without God's favor shown to us by being chosen to receive the Truth. It is an awesome revelation of who God is when we grasp, truly grasp, that we have been chosen....by God...Almighty...One and Only...True GOD!
Why did God choose you? Why did He choose me? Are we smarter than others? Are we more eloquent? Are we better looking? Are we more spiritual? Are we more submissive? Are we more aggressive?
None of the above, because God's grace is "unmerited" favor, meaning nothing we are or have done or will do is why He chose us. Had nothing to do with us at all. Had everything to do with who God is. He is sovereign. He chose because He can. He has the right to choose us or not to.
We don't ever want to think about God NOT choosing someone, we want EVERYONE to be saved. But everyone won't be saved. The Bible tells us that in the book of Revelation. Some are cast into the lake of fire. Do we understand that God selected us to NOT go there?
And if we say we understand it, are we remembering to be thankful, grateful, all out blown away by that knowledge? If we say we are grateful, then in what ways does God see that gratitude in our lives?
At times, my own life doesn't show such gratitude very well...
...AND YET....
I know He is not finished with me. I know He is working this out in me. I know that I will understand patient waiting much better when He is done with me. I know that I WILL appreciate what He has done, much much better than ever before.
Jesus IS the author, and He IS the finisher of my faith. Jesus was the beginning of my faith walk, and He will be the end of it as well. I WILL end it with Him. Somehow, I know this.
Not because of who I am, but because I do remember who He is.
I believe it is His grace that prompts me to remember. And for that one thing at least, at this particular time in my life, I AM grateful.
For that one thing, I am thankful that I can say that His grace is sufficient for me.
"For this thing I besought the Lord, thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, 'My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." (2 Corinthians 12:8-9)
Whatever Paul's disability, it did not slow down the kingdom purposes that the LORD had planned for Paul. Paul was a "young man...whose name was Saul" (Acts 7:58) when his approving presence witnessed the stoning of the first Christian martyr, Stephen. Some brief time later, Saul came to know Jesus personally and it is believed that Paul, aka Saul, was in his early sixties when he was executed for his faith in Jesus, at which time his 30-40 years of working for the Lord, and for the increase of the kingdom of God, came to an end.
God's grace was Paul sufficiency. God's grace was Paul's strength in the face of human weakness and trembling. It was God's grace that carried Paul all the way home to heaven.
Can God's grace do any less for us? Might it be less sufficient in some way for us?
Or is God's grace God's grace and thus impossible to be less than is ever needed?
What exactly does it mean to have God's grace in our lives?
Since the word grace as used in the Bible means "unmerited favor," then for me God's grace in my life means that He "keeps" me as a favored child, often in ways I cannot see, and always for reasons I cannot understand. When the world has rejected you over and over and you begin to believe that you are worthy only to be rejected rather than that perhaps the wrong people have been in your life, it becomes so difficult to understand why God would both love us and favor us.
But God's grace means more than knowing that He "keeps" us because He favors us. The flip side of grace is that God's favor towards us causes His chastisement to be on us whenever He deems it is necessary in order to "keep" us. The rod of correction in our lives is almost always painful, just as the surgeon's knife cutting away the cancer in order to save our life is also painful. But we know the analogy well, that without the pain that comes with that "pruning" away of those things that are leading us to destruction (aka eternal separation from God), we cannot flourish and be fruitful as we were meant to be when we were first chosen.
Let's look at the word "chosen" for a minute. Do we fully appreciate the meaning of that small word?
Are we careful to not neglect the great gift God has given us through His Son, Jesus: our salvation. And all because He "chose" to open our eyes to the truth of who Jesus is. We did not do that on our own. We might have made the decision to receive Him into our hearts, once we learned of Him. But we could never have learned of Him, without God's favor shown to us by being chosen to receive the Truth. It is an awesome revelation of who God is when we grasp, truly grasp, that we have been chosen....by God...Almighty...One and Only...True GOD!
Why did God choose you? Why did He choose me? Are we smarter than others? Are we more eloquent? Are we better looking? Are we more spiritual? Are we more submissive? Are we more aggressive?
None of the above, because God's grace is "unmerited" favor, meaning nothing we are or have done or will do is why He chose us. Had nothing to do with us at all. Had everything to do with who God is. He is sovereign. He chose because He can. He has the right to choose us or not to.
We don't ever want to think about God NOT choosing someone, we want EVERYONE to be saved. But everyone won't be saved. The Bible tells us that in the book of Revelation. Some are cast into the lake of fire. Do we understand that God selected us to NOT go there?
And if we say we understand it, are we remembering to be thankful, grateful, all out blown away by that knowledge? If we say we are grateful, then in what ways does God see that gratitude in our lives?
At times, my own life doesn't show such gratitude very well...
...AND YET....
I know He is not finished with me. I know He is working this out in me. I know that I will understand patient waiting much better when He is done with me. I know that I WILL appreciate what He has done, much much better than ever before.
Jesus IS the author, and He IS the finisher of my faith. Jesus was the beginning of my faith walk, and He will be the end of it as well. I WILL end it with Him. Somehow, I know this.
Not because of who I am, but because I do remember who He is.
I believe it is His grace that prompts me to remember. And for that one thing at least, at this particular time in my life, I AM grateful.
For that one thing, I am thankful that I can say that His grace is sufficient for me.
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