The Aim of Grace

June 3, 2016

Yesterday, Amy and I were chatting in the comments of one of her posts and she said some words that reminded me of what God has been teaching me as of late. It's a theme that keeps coming up, so  it's time that I share it with all of you!

Amy said this, "...I'm often reminded that even when we stretch ourselves the Lord continues to fill in the gaps."

And she was right. There is so much that can happen at any given moment. There is so much that IS happening at EVERY given moment. Some of it is wonderful. Some of it is predictable. And some of it is enough to make you want to crawl back into the bed and start over. Whatever is happening, has happened, or will happened, we Christians have a hope in our God that truly is beyond belief.

Our God stands with grace in hand. His people need His grace and He gives it to them as they need it. Grace isn't something we can store up. Grace is granted to us. No more and no less than we need.

A few weeks ago, the familiar passage from 2 Corinthians where Paul talks about God's grace being sufficient came up while the pastor was preaching his sermon. It's been on my mind ever since. God's grace didn't make the hard thing disappear. What God's grace did was give Paul the strength to press on and the humility to know that God was at work.

The same is true for me and for you and for all of God's people. The aim of God's grace isn't to make our lives easier or happier or more comfortable. It doesn't make us perfect. It doesn't make conflicts with difficult people disappear or grant us the ability to deal with them in a way that will keep them from blowing up at us. And it dawned on me that THAT is good news. The good news of God's grace is that it is granted to us to keep us walking with and depending on God.

There's been a lot of stretching going on. And most days it's great, please hear that. I write these things to let you know what's happening with me and to encourage you through the times when you might need to be reminded of truth. On those days when we're sure that this is as far as we can stretch, He's there with the grace we need not to break and crumble and give up. Every time.

"...He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 2 Corinthians 12:9