The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
“Path of Grace”
“I cannot! I can! Through Christ!”
“Without Me, ye can do nothing… I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (John 15:5; Philippians 4:13).
God made human beings to serve as His spiritual dwelling place, wherein He lives for the purpose of leading and enabling us to reveal and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. The goal looms before us so loftily that we have no hope of fulfilling it by our own human devices. Indeed, no human heart has ever ascended to the summit of even one act of obedience to God in and of its own devices. Wherever we see faithfulness, we see His grace received by faith, making possible thoughts, words, attitudes, actions, and relating to the Lord and people according to His will. “Let us have grace, that we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28).
How do we “have grace,” resulting in faith and obedience? The question involves progressive growth in the knowledge of God and His truth. Every born again believer in the Lord Jesus knows the answer to some degree. Indeed, one cannot be a believer without some awareness of what it means to exercise faith in God for the purpose of receiving His grace. Our relationship with Him began accordingly, and the Apostles Paul and Peter unite to command that such provision and reception continue…
“But grow in grace and in the knowledge of or Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:18).
“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6-7).
“Rooted and built up” illuminates Paul regarding the relationship with God that began by grace and faith, and will only effectually continue by the same divine work “purchased” not by barter, but as the prophet so beautifully foreshadowed of Christ’s freely given grace:
“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1).
Just as were born again by freely receiving God’s grace, we will only walk in faith and faithfulness as we humbly acknowledge our coffers bear “no money,” and confidently affirm God’s provision of “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8). Consider the next act of obedience, of whatever mode or measure. God’s role will be promise and provision, perfectly fulfilled. Our role will be faith and reception, but without the same certainty. Our Heavenly Father has blessed His trusting children in Christ with a real relationship and fellowship that includes our free response of faith - “ask and ye shall receive” - but also the possibility of “ye have not because ye ask not” (John 16:24; James 4:2). Thus, we seek to grow in the truth of God’s role and our role in a life that requires His perfect faithfulness and our progressive growth in the faith whereby we “buy and eat” that which we freely receive, but which cost our Lord so much to provide (Matthew 10:8).
Indeed, the next act of faith and obedience will be possible because “He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (II Corinthians 5:21). This casts the matter in a far different and most holy light. The grace that makes trust and obedience possible does not come to us by divine fiat, but by the suffering, forsakenness, and death of the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary. Only thereby could God bestow the favor of His enabling presence that not only provides forgiveness and salvation, but makes possible faith and faithfulness. We will fulfill our role far more devotedly and consistently in the light of such wonder. “I cannot… I can… through Christ!” A simple statement, but so true, and so profound that a lifetime of growth in all its enabling implications lies before us as a path of grace, traveled by faith.
“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”
(II Corinthians 9:8)
Weekly Memory Verse
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
(Revelation 21:4)
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