“God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every [all] good deed.” 2 Co. 9:8
Did you notice all the all’s in today’s verse? Webster’s definition of “all” is “any whatsoever; being the utmost possible; everything being taken into account and everything else; in any and every way; to any extent.” (Webster 1984) However, most Christians’ concept of grace is not this generous. Grace is seen as a pretty, yet innocuous word to say at the dinner table, and grace is understood to be there at our initial salvation experience: “by grace you have been saved through faith.” (Eph. 2:8) But the implications of God’s ‘all grace’ span vastly beyond our entry point and into all of our “any whatsoever” things, times, and needs. In order to live coram Deo, grace needs to become our favorite feast that we freely find before His face for all things, for all times, and for all needs.
Grace is “charis,” which in the Greek means, “favor, acceptance, unearned benefits; what we cannot do; the bounty and free heartedness of the Giver.” (Zodhiates 1990) Grace is the bounty of heaven dripping down like honey on any whatsoever we cannot do. Grace is stepping aside so as not to settle merely for what we can do, but rather make room for Him to “do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.” (Eph. 3:20) God’s ‘all grace’ poured out in our lives is like discovering a tool on the computer that allows us to do in 10 minutes what would have taken 10 hours!
By faith in His ‘all grace,’ we can declare daily, “I’m in the right place, at the right time, doing the right things,” even if that means we appear to be stumbling forward more than backwards in life. Grace is having what we need when we need it for any whatsoever He leads us to do, even if we’re “surrounded and battered by troubles…not sure what to do…spiritually terrorized…and thrown down…to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us.” (2 Co. 4:8-9, 7 MSG) Christ in us wants His grace to freely flow so that we are whatever He wants to be through us. It is to God’s glory (i.e., Jesus is seen) when ordinary clay pots bear His extraordinary fruit.
Adapted from the Coram Deo Secret
http://www.marisarickerson.com/coram-deo.html
Did you notice all the all’s in today’s verse? Webster’s definition of “all” is “any whatsoever; being the utmost possible; everything being taken into account and everything else; in any and every way; to any extent.” (Webster 1984) However, most Christians’ concept of grace is not this generous. Grace is seen as a pretty, yet innocuous word to say at the dinner table, and grace is understood to be there at our initial salvation experience: “by grace you have been saved through faith.” (Eph. 2:8) But the implications of God’s ‘all grace’ span vastly beyond our entry point and into all of our “any whatsoever” things, times, and needs. In order to live coram Deo, grace needs to become our favorite feast that we freely find before His face for all things, for all times, and for all needs.
Grace is “charis,” which in the Greek means, “favor, acceptance, unearned benefits; what we cannot do; the bounty and free heartedness of the Giver.” (Zodhiates 1990) Grace is the bounty of heaven dripping down like honey on any whatsoever we cannot do. Grace is stepping aside so as not to settle merely for what we can do, but rather make room for Him to “do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.” (Eph. 3:20) God’s ‘all grace’ poured out in our lives is like discovering a tool on the computer that allows us to do in 10 minutes what would have taken 10 hours!
By faith in His ‘all grace,’ we can declare daily, “I’m in the right place, at the right time, doing the right things,” even if that means we appear to be stumbling forward more than backwards in life. Grace is having what we need when we need it for any whatsoever He leads us to do, even if we’re “surrounded and battered by troubles…not sure what to do…spiritually terrorized…and thrown down…to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us.” (2 Co. 4:8-9, 7 MSG) Christ in us wants His grace to freely flow so that we are whatever He wants to be through us. It is to God’s glory (i.e., Jesus is seen) when ordinary clay pots bear His extraordinary fruit.
Adapted from the Coram Deo Secret
http://www.marisarickerson.com/coram-deo.html
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