“Incessant Grace"

"Incessant Grace"  

     God always finishes what He starts, even as the epistle to the Hebrews refers to the Lord Jesus Christ as "the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2).  This truth provides great hope for the future in which our Heavenly Father's redeeming process will culminate in our being conformed to the spiritual and moral image of the Lord Jesus.  However, God's faithful finishing also impacts this moment, and particularly those times when we are tempted to discouragement and even despair.

    "Great is Thy faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:23).

    When we realize our walk with the Lord has waned, we must remember and affirm the blessed assurance that His work for us has continued.  Incessant grace characterizes our Savior's trustworthiness as He "ever liveth to make intercession for us" (Hebrews 7:25).  Ultimately, "we shall be like Him" because He presently and always fulfills the spiritual purpose of God to finish that which He starts, that is, to finish us (I John 3:2).  We play a role in the holy process, seeking to heed the Apostle Paul's command to "work our your own salvation with fear and trembling" as the fruit of "it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12-13).  The more we become convinced of our Lord's proactive, ongoing work in us, the more we respond with our Christ-enabled working out of such grace.  Indeed, at the end of his earthly journey, Paul could testify  "I have finished my course" because and only because the Finisher had faithfully completed His perpetual and perfecting work in His apostle.  "Faithful is He that calleth you, who will also do it" (II Timothy 4:7; I Thessalonians 5:24).

    Our hope for God's completion in the future strengthens us in this moment wherein our Lord works on our behalf to accomplish His ultimate purposes.  No true believer in the Lord Jesus can long languish in spiritual laziness or lethargy when the truth of our  Heavenly Father's incessant grace illuminates our hearts.  Our faithfulness is the fruit of His faithfulness acknowledged, affirmed, and applied to our hearts by the Word of God, the Spirit of God, and the Christ of God who "ever liveth" for our eternal benefit, and for the benefit of this moment.  Yes, God finishes what He starts by His ongoing work to glorify His Son and perfect His sons and daughters in Christ.

"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen."

(Hebrews 13:20-21)

Weekly Memory Verse 

    Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God.

(Psalm 90:2)