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All Grace

Every morning, as I sleepily snuggle into my corner of the couch, coffee in one hand and Bible in the other, I whisper the same prayer: Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law (Psalm 119:18).  This verse has become a reminder that there is nothing I can pull out of God’s Word without His Spirit opening my eyes and preparing my heart.

I need this reminder.  So quickly do I fall.  So quickly do I grasp a precious truth from His Holy Word and then claim that truth with arrogance and self-proclamation.  I turn to a fellow child of God on the right or on the left and stand in disbelief that they have not seen the truth as I have! My head begins to swell at the knowledge and wisdom God pours into me quickly forgetting that it is ONLY because of His grace that I can see at all.

Funny creatures we are.  We have been given a gift, clearly undeserved, yet we boast as if we had done something in making it happen.  The creation standing and claiming glory that only belongs to the Creator Himself.

We have been given grace through Christ alone, and we come to understand grace through His Spirit alone.  Our growth in the knowledge of who He is a gift, just as much as our birth into His Kingdom.

Pride is an ugly enemy.  How quickly he slithers in and puffs us up.  We must constantly be alert to his schemes.  We must constantly surrender to the LORDSHIP of Jesus Christ, remembering our place in HIS story.  We cannot let a day pass by without reminding ourselves that our existence is for His glory alone.  And when God begins working something new and fresh in us, we have to quickly surrender that work at the foot of the cross.  We give praise for His grace in our lives…we lay our crowns down daily.  It is when we try that crown on for size, when we strut around for even a moment with the glory of God’s work displayed as our own, that we will fall hard and give room for pride to take center stage.

Throughout these forty days of surrender and cleansing our lives of the world, God will do mighty things in us.  We will see His Word come alive and His grace take up permanent space in our lives.  Tossing the world out and embracing the eternal work of His glory in our lives, we can’t help be changed!  And it will excite us and set us on fire!  But we must be careful not to cast judgment on those who are not in the same place as we are.  God is sanctifying each one of His children…He is working in us to mold us into the image of His Son. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;  for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-13).

God is at work in us…setting us apart for holiness. He reaches down and plucks us out of our filth and garbage and sets us on holy ground.  God does this.  In His timing and with His grace.  We don’t have it all figured out…we are a work in progress.

I love the song, “He’s still working on me…to make me what I ought to be…it took Him just a week to make the moon and the stars, the sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars.  How loving and patient He must be…cause He’s still working on me.” 

We want others to extend grace to us when we get it wrong, react in our flesh, have a bad attitude, or utterly and completely fail.  We must extend that same grace to others.  We must pray more and talk less.  Give time for God to do the work He has promised to do in them, just as He is doing in us.  It’s miraculous and beautiful.  Remember, all the good, is all His grace.

Today’s Challenge:  Think of an area in your life where you’ve grown over the past month. Remember where you were in that area before this challenge began.  Now, choose a part of your life that you know still needs work.  Create a goal for that particular area.  While you praise God for the success in some walks of life, remember to pray that these successes don’t blind you to the fields in your life that still need attention.