March 27
“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8)
We have spent the last several weekdays talking about God’s grace. We have seen that it is far more than just God’s “unmerited favor” towards us. Grace is properly defined (and Biblically verified) as the expression of God’s divine character and nature. Every aspect of His character and nature is poured out to us in His grace… and His grace characterizes everything He does for us. Human beings are the object of His grace – which He desires to pour out to us in an exceedingly abundant measure (as it properly reflects His Heart towards us).
Grace is, indeed, God’s unmerited favor – but it is also so much more than that… it is just as correct to define grace as God’s undeniable holiness, His unlimited power, His unbridled generosity, His unequivocal goodness, His undying faithfulness, and on and on. Every aspect of Who He is… is grace – poured out to us, by His choice.
But there is even far more to grace than just God’s gracious gift TO us. We are not just the recipients of grace (as wonderful as that is!), we are called to BE filled with His grace… and to flow with His grace. In other words, the divine character and nature that are poured out to us are meant to become a reservoir within us, and a river flowing out through us (to a world that needs a real experience of God’s grace).
In short, God’s grace is HIM in us, working in us, and pouring out through us to touch God’s world with the love that compelled Him to send Jesus to save us all.
This is exactly what we saw in Jesus when He came to live among us. In fact, He was defined as “the Word of God, full of grace and truth (John 1:14-18).” In every action, He was grace and truth at work. In every teaching, He was grace and truth in word.
The amazing news is that what we saw in Jesus is exactly what He has offered to us, by His grace. We who have The Word of God living within us (Jesus!) are also filled with the same grace and truth – and are fully capable of living just as our Master showed us. He came to show us what we could all be – when we are fully committed to the will of the Father and enabled by the unlimited nature of His grace.
As Jesus was… so we are all called to be.
Let that thought sink in… When you really look at what Jesus was saying to His disciples (and every disciple through the centuries) He was trying to get us to understand that He came to enable all of us to BE just like Him – and that begins with the faith to believe that, because of what Jesus has done for us, we are all able to be full of grace and truth.
In the next few days, as we build up to Resurrection Day, we will look at what Jesus has to say about what we would be because He came to usher in a whole new way of living life through Him.
And that new life is best characterized by God’s abundant grace to us, in us, and through us…
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