For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6, ESV)
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:9, ESV)
We are told not to be weak. We’re told not to show any weaknesses. We’re told to impress others with our strengths while hiding our weaknesses. This is the paradigm in which I grew up. I figured this is how life ought to be lived, as others would love and pursue me if they saw me as someone who had everything together.
However, I loved a game that was very good at exposing weaknesses. Golf knows how to make us look bad, doesn’t it? The golf course was one place where my weaknesses couldn’t hide. This was sometimes hard for me to deal with; getting exposed can be difficult and eye-opening, both in golf and in life.
Only because of his sheer love, God decides to approach us with his beautiful and majestic mercy and grace.As I talked about in my last devotion, it is good to expose yourself, just as Paul, the writer of today’s passages, did so often. It’s good to admit and repent often of your sins, because this makes our great God look very big.
Many people believe that grace is that one-time gift that God shows people when he saves us from darkness and places us into the light. This is true—in fact, it is what we would call “saving grace.”
However, grace goes beyond the saving component. “Sustaining grace” is the grace that God shows continually and constantly to his people. Today’s passage in 2 Corinthians provides a great example of God’s sustaining grace. While Paul pleaded with God to remove his “thorn in his flesh” (a few verses earlier), God decided not to heal or take away this thorn from Paul.
What is very interesting in this passage is this: God showed Paul grace, even though he decided not to answer Paul’s specific request in the way Paul asked. If God would have answered the prayer of Paul by taking away his “thorn,” God would have been gracious. If God decided not to answer Paul’s request, then God is still perfectly gracious.
There are many takeaways this passage can lead to. I want to leave you with this one simple thought: If you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior and have placed your faith and trust in him, he is completely, utterly, and perfectly gracious to you 100 percent of the time!
We serve a God who, in spite of our many weaknesses, blesses us with his own unconditional grace. He doesn’t have to do this; in fact, the right thing for him to do is to punish all people because of their sin. However, only because of his sheer love, he decides to approach us with his beautiful and majestic mercy and grace.
Brothers and sisters, ponder and meditate on this God whom we get to serve and the constant grace he shows us, his people. Whether God allows the thorn in your flesh to remain or he decides to take it away, he is delivering to you his wonderful, beautiful grace as he, your God and Father, is smiling on you, his son or daughter.
—
Rosson Anderson
June 28, 2016
Copyright 2016 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.