"...in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But 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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." - Paul
"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work." - Paul
I was talking with a friend of mine yesterday and we were talking about why we are here, and how God has created everything and even the way everything works. And then we were talking about how He has, for some reason, given us a will and the ability to think and choose our own courses in life, and ultimately whether or not we even have anything at all to do with Him. We both came to pretty much the same conclusion; if it were anyone other than God who came up with a system like that...you would have to be inclined to encourage them to go back to the drawing board. After all, if my power were limitless, I could probably come up with a creative way of changing minds to do what I want, and in such a way that they wouldn't even realize that their mind have been tampered with at all...
...which of course is why I can't be trusted with limitless power.
So why this way then? Why would God set things up the way that He did? With all of His wisdom and insight and omniscience, why give us the reigns? Why allow us the ability, and yes even the power, to make such colossal wrecks of our lives and the world all around us? Especially when often times the choices and decisions I have the ability to make have the power to direct so much pain at others in my immediate vicinity. I'll bet I'm not the only one who has ever wondered as to whether or not He has really thought this one all the way through...
We see people deal with this wondering in different kinds of ways:
- Obviously, there is no god. How can there be with a system like this? We are completely on our own.
- Maybe there is a god out there somewhere, but it's quite obvious that he or she or it has nothing, and wants nothing to do with us.
- For sure there is a god out there, probably lots of them, and we are nothing more than chess pieces to play with.
- Absolutely God is there, and here, and everywhere! He has laid out His demands, and there is literal hell to pay for anyone who does not fall in line specifically and directly in this way (insert very specific religious belief here...).
- I'm sure God is out there...I'm just not convinced that He knows that I am right here...
After pin-balling all around this list during my life, I've come to two realizations as to why God has set things into motion in the way in which He has:
- Relationship
- Partnership
Look at these examples that we are given.
In the creation story we are told that God chose to create us in His image, in His likeness...only the text seems to quote God in the plural saying, "Let us create man in our own image, in our likeness." Then the text goes on to say that God did just that, creating them male and female. Later the text says that together "the two shall become one". It's not a big leap to see what is being implied here, the one-ness, the being in His plural image, is in relationship. The story is telling us that our beginning is formed in relationship and for relationship, much like my beginning 38 years ago was formed in the relationship of my mother and father out of their desire for relationship with each other, and ultimately their relationship with me. And now I have carried this forward with my wife and two daughters. The story then goes on immediately to give us mission in life, to partner with Him in caring for everything that He has just created. Just as a family business might be handed from generation to generation, caring for each other and the world that He has created is the divine family business.
In another example we see God form a special relationship with Abraham and promise him offspring that will form an entirely new nation in the world. God chooses to specifically bless Abraham through this relationship, and then tells Abraham that He wants him to partner with Him in being His conduit of blessing to the entire world.
Roughly 2,000 years later we see Jesus here on earth form a special, loving relationship with a very small group of disciples. At the end of that period of time, He gives them the directive to partner with Him in continuing His work, "...as I have loved you, so you are to love each other...", and "...now you make your own disciples, teaching them all that I have taught you...".
In II Corinthians 5, Paul tells us that by the love of Christ and the work that He has done on our behalf, our relationship with God has been completely reconciled. There is nothing still standing between us, all has been made new and set right. Because of this, Paul tells us that we are to partner with God Himself, as His ambassadors, being ministers of God's reconciliation with all of mankind.
These are just a few of the many examples all through the bible. God's desire for relationship and partnership with the ones He created, His children.
So what does any of this have to do with grace??
When we understand what it is that God has been looking for in us, then we begin to get a clear picture of how we like sheep have strayed from the Shepherd's care. Not only have we struggled through, and sometimes outright rejected His many offers of relationship; but when we do acknowledge Him, we so many times find ourselves still carrying our own heavy burdens, we still struggle with trying to please Him and earn His favor, we still try to function in our own strength, or even just go about life as usual with no thought of seeing His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in the heavens.
What does this have to do with grace? Grace is God's lovingkindness, His goodness, His favor which is poured out on us and fills us up to overflowing to actually live the good life of relationship and partnership that He has planned for us. It is His ability to live our lives as He desires them to be lived. It is His power to not have our lives dictated by the circumstances that pound from every side like gale force winds. In the words of my pastor, grace is the fuel that we are intended to consume in order to live His life of goodness just like an 18 wheeler consumes diesel climbing a long, steep grade.
This grace, this favor, this divine ability to accomplish in us what we cannot accomplish on our own, is simply accessed by choosing to stop looking to others and inward for strength and ability and answers, and to begin to find our confidence for living in Him. It's His life that He is offering to us after all, He is the author of it and it simply cannot be found anywhere else.
This is how Jesus put it, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."
So what then does this grace look like in our lives? What is this fruit? What is this something that we can only do if we are abiding in Him? I'll look at that next time.
In II Corinthians 5, Paul tells us that by the love of Christ and the work that He has done on our behalf, our relationship with God has been completely reconciled. There is nothing still standing between us, all has been made new and set right. Because of this, Paul tells us that we are to partner with God Himself, as His ambassadors, being ministers of God's reconciliation with all of mankind.
These are just a few of the many examples all through the bible. God's desire for relationship and partnership with the ones He created, His children.
So what does any of this have to do with grace??
When we understand what it is that God has been looking for in us, then we begin to get a clear picture of how we like sheep have strayed from the Shepherd's care. Not only have we struggled through, and sometimes outright rejected His many offers of relationship; but when we do acknowledge Him, we so many times find ourselves still carrying our own heavy burdens, we still struggle with trying to please Him and earn His favor, we still try to function in our own strength, or even just go about life as usual with no thought of seeing His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in the heavens.
What does this have to do with grace? Grace is God's lovingkindness, His goodness, His favor which is poured out on us and fills us up to overflowing to actually live the good life of relationship and partnership that He has planned for us. It is His ability to live our lives as He desires them to be lived. It is His power to not have our lives dictated by the circumstances that pound from every side like gale force winds. In the words of my pastor, grace is the fuel that we are intended to consume in order to live His life of goodness just like an 18 wheeler consumes diesel climbing a long, steep grade.This grace, this favor, this divine ability to accomplish in us what we cannot accomplish on our own, is simply accessed by choosing to stop looking to others and inward for strength and ability and answers, and to begin to find our confidence for living in Him. It's His life that He is offering to us after all, He is the author of it and it simply cannot be found anywhere else.
This is how Jesus put it, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."
So what then does this grace look like in our lives? What is this fruit? What is this something that we can only do if we are abiding in Him? I'll look at that next time.
