FRIDAY January 19th
Romans 1:7b
‘Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.’
I have come back to the same verse again today, simply because I want to consider the word grace again.
From Paul’s letter to the Ephesians we see grace as being a gift from God linked with faith, whereby the benefits of what Christ has done for us in his death and resurrection are granted to us, forgiveness, cleansing, reconciliation etc. All of these we did not deserve, but God has granted to us because of his incredible grace. (See Ephesians 2) We call it the unmerited favour of God.
In the greetings that Paul brings in each of his letters, he is seeking for God’s continuing favour to be upon his people. In other words just as we required God’s grace to be saved, we need his grace to enable us to continue. That is why I like the way that Peter puts it in his two letters, ‘Grace and peace be multiplied to you’, that speaks to me of an abundant supply of grace and an abundant supply of peace.
John reminds us in the opening chapter of his gospel, that the Word (that is Jesus, who is also God) became flesh and dwelt among us, he then continues to say that Jesus is full of grace and truth. And this to me is the wonder, as he has poured out his grace through the ages to all who have come to him for salvation, the supply of grace is not depleted, he is still full of grace and he is still pouring his grace out on the whosoever who is willing to come to him by faith, and at the same time he is still pouring his grace out as divine favour upon those who are already a part of his wonderful family.
It was Paul who had it said to him by the Lord Jesus, as he was going through some kind of difficulty or trial, ‘My grace is sufficient for you’. And this is a reminder for each one of us, his grace is in plentiful supply, we will turn to this in the Scripture in the next devotion.
It reaches me! It reaches me!
Wondrous grace! It reaches me!
Pure, exhaustless, ever flowing,
Wondrous grace! It reaches me!
Mary D. James RH 339 MM 323