Seeing Grace Clearly

“Charles Swindoll tells of a friend who wanted to purchase a gem for his wife. He visited a jeweler who knew just how to display his merchandise. He stopped under a bright light, slid a piece of black velvet onto the glass counter, took the gems from the case and laid them one by one on the velvet. Without that black backdrop, he couldn’t have seen the cut, the hues, or the beauty of each gem. “I learned something from his search for that jewel: we cannot appreciate the beauty and the luster and the brilliance of the gospel of Christ, with all of its hope and grace, if we’ve never seen the backdrop of sin as it really is” (Insights, Spring-Summer 1986).

The brilliance of God’s grace is most clearly seen against the backdrop of the depths of sin from which it can free us. This is emphasized by Paul in his letter to Ephesus. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-7). The apostle contrasts being dead in our transgressions with the abundant riches of God’s grace.

Perhaps Paul can speak clearly on this topic because he had experienced it in his own life. “For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me” (1 Corinthians 15:9-10).

“May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure” (1 Peter 1:2).

God loves you!

Mike

 

The Gift Of Time

“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away” (James 4:13–14).

“Scientific researchers recently estimated that: A lightning bolt lasts 45-55 microseconds. An average running shoe lasts 350-500 miles. A hard pencil can write up to 30,000 words. A ball point pen can draw a line 7,500 ft. long. A 100 watt incandescent bulb lasts 750 hours. A 25 watt bulb lasts 25,000 hours. A one dollar bill lasts 18 months in circulation.

“Yet, James says that our life is but a puff of smoke from a fire; steam that rises from a cup of coffee; or, one’s breath briefly visible on a cold morning. The days of our life, while precious, are also passing like a vapor. I recently read a most interesting article entitled, “If You Are 35, You Have 500 Days to Live.” The article went on to contend that when you subtract the time you spend sleeping, working, tending to personal matters, eating, traveling, doing chores, attending to personal hygiene, and you add in the miscellaneous time stealers, in the next 36 years you will have only 500 days to spend as you wish. It then poses the question, “When all of the necessary things are done, how much time will you have left?””*

Sobering thoughts, right? Time truly is fleeting for all of us. Who knows how much we have left? For the believer, this doesn’t have to be discouraging but perhaps it can be a reminder to use our time well. The start of a new year is a great time to pause and take stock of our lives. How am I using the precious gift of time that God has given me?

God loves you!

Mike

*Steve Wagers, pastorlife.com