Day 24 - Issue 27
2 Corinthians 12:8-9 NLT
Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.
I love scripture “My grace is all you need”. It sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? Yet, learning to live free of self-conscious angst and basking in the sufficiency of God’s grace is challenging. Through much of my life I’ve attempted to exercise control over my personal life, in the realm of work, family and so forth. Yet, this attempted control has often created stress as so much of life lies beyond my control. In ministry or working as a trainer, my temptation is always to obsess about how much I’m liked. This can only direct my focus upon me, and distract me from the task in hand.
Yet, if I hear God accurately, such thoughts may simply indicate a personal narcissism, or love of self. God’s invitation is to invite me to encounter him within my present circumstances, however catastrophic. My learning takes place as I live on the very edge, or even beyond my comfort zone; to live out of faith in God’s presence in all circumstances. Only in complete vulnerability is God’s grace revealed.
This is most definitely counterintuitive; it is also countercultural. It is as life experience engulfs me that I discover just how little control I exercise over it. Here I may eventually discover that God’s grace is indeed all I need.
Paul at least only prayed three times before recognising grace was all he required. At times I’ve become addicted to my prayer for transformation, that my circumstances must improve from my perspective, so I have failed to be silent long enough to accept the invitation to go in search of God’s grace. For while freely given, it still has to be discovered and embraced.
QUESTION: Do you keep asking for what the Bible says God has already given?
PRAYER: Lord, thank you for your grace, goodness and kindness to me in Christ Jesus, and that in my weakness in you, I find all I need.
