Skip to main content

Grace and Purpose

             BibleGateway.com has provided another “before” verse. It specifically says that God gave us grace in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but earlier in the verse, it connects grace with purpose. I know someone who was taught that if she didn’t perform, God might “shelve” her. This is a variation on what Mordecai said to Esther about what would happen if she didn’t try to help her people, and what God told Ezekiel about what would happen if he didn’t warn his people about their sins. I’m not suggesting that there won’t be consequences if we refuse to do as God tells us. I’m suggesting that God’s plans include grace and are not so fragile that our failure automatically disqualifies us.

But more than that. God planned all this before the beginning of time. He had a purpose for you and for me before the universe came to be. He knew that we would fall short, and He chose to work with us anyway. He created us in a way that necessitated our failure, and like a good parent, He stepped in, and steps in. I’m not OK, but it’s OK. It’s not really about my being OK – from my perspective anyway. Somehow, because God is God, He will welcome me to join Him in making things turn out right. I suspect it’s like the parent teaching the child to write by holding the hand that holds the pencil. And if that’s the way I need to learn to live, so be it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more