Every morning I get up, fix my cup of tea and, weather permitting, sit on my patio. A cup of tea, my Bible and Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest at hand and I’m ready to greet the Lord in the new day. How pleasant, how blessed my life has been. With the psalmist I say to the Lord, “The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance” (Psalm 16:6, ESV).
Those pleasant places I have lived in, however, do not exclude or ignore the places of suffering and difficulty. Indeed, those hard parts of life, that we are all subject to at one time, or many times, serve to heighten our appreciation for that “beautiful inheritance” the psalmist spoke of.
I believe this inheritance is, in a few words, the grace of God. God’s grace has been poured out on us all through Jesus Christ and when we reach for it and grasp it by faith, we begin to know its gracious effect. Even the bitterest trials are made into that which can transform our character, making us stronger through the suffering we endure. Suffering endured with God, not alone. Within that grace of God is a whole world of goodness and kindness, a world apart from anything we’ve ever known outside of God.
Unpack it, explain that world of God’s grace, someone might say. It would take a lifetime. But that is what we have now, isn’t it, however long or short our lives may be? From this moment on we have the exciting expectation that God will give us glimpses—in his Word, in the face of Jesus Christ, in one another, in trials, in joys—what his “immeasurable” grace encompasses. And we carry that into our world.
We show with our lives and tell with our words the immeasurable riches of his grace, beginning to unpack for ourselves and others, to understand, or at least embrace by faith, this thing called the grace of God that can make even the unpleasant, pleasant.
Using my words to embrace and unpack God’s grace is what I’ve been doing in this blog, sharing my heart with you. This is also what I have done in writing the book Brokenness to Beauty: Transforming Your Brokenness into a Beautiful Life, soon to be published.
How have you been using your words to embrace and unpack God’s grace to others? Or are you struggling to grasp God’s grace? Let’s talk. Leave your comments to open the conversation.
Ephesians 1, Romans 5, Romans 8
Thanks for your kind words, Martha.
thanks so much…beautifully said. thank the Lord