"My Grace Is Sufficient for You"

Friends,

One of the fascinating things that we learn when we study many of the personalities in the Scriptures...God's people...that they were altogether flawed. Most of the leaders that the Lord chose to lead His people had some personal struggles in one way, shape or form...or another. Moses killed a man...David was an adulterer and consented to have more than one person killed...Abraham bold-faced lied on more than one occasion...Elijah suffered with depression and struggled with his faith...Noah struggled with strong drink...even Paul certainly had nightmares from all of the heinous things that he had been a part of before He met the Lord on the road to Damascus.

Yet, even Paul would come to grow and understand..."My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). You see...this attitude is truly reflective of the heart of all of those godly people who came before who were washed in the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 9:11ff). Were they flawed and did they make mistakes? Yes...but the general course of their lives was focused on pleasing the Lord...being His people -- they were faithful to Him. Some might ask..."how could this be?" It is because God does not look at all of the imperfections in His people, rather, He sees His Son in the place of those imperfections. This does not mean that God's people were or are sinless...but blameless. This is what the blood of Jesus is able to accomplish for us...it takes the focus off of us and puts it upon the Lord. He knew that we were not good enough nor were we ever going to do enough to merit salvation...so, He paid the price for all of us by sending His son to die for us and take away our sins. When God's people seek to live according to His will...it is not those who are self-sufficient who are going to understand this grace that He has to offer, but those who adopt the mindset of the tax collector that Jesus shares concerning in His parable in Luke 18:13, "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'"(NIV)

Paul shares with the Corinthians in 1 Cor 13:8-12, "Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (NIV) We must mature and grow in our understanding of God's grace in our lives. Paul could see imperfectly or immaturely, because he was looking at things from a human point of view. He was growing and learning in his spiritual walk with the Lord and as he would grow, spiritual matters would become much more clear to him. He also knew that one day, there would no longer be a fog or haze in relationship to understanding spiritual concerns because he would be with Jesus and all of those matters would be cleared up, figuratively and literally.

Way too many Christians live lives enslaved to things...negative attitudes, addictions, ambitions, etc. because they have not come face to face or grips with the principle of grace that Paul mentions above -- "My grace is sufficient for you." When we grow in love and in our understanding of this principle, day by day, life begins to make more sense and we are able to be free to be whom the Lord has called us to be in Him. Like those who sinned before but were set free, we also will be able to have the freedom to move, live and enjoy life according the the Spirit whom He gave to live within each one of those who are His people. Blessings,

Don