“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.“–2 Cor. 12:9

You can’t give serous thought to life without thinking of God and thinking of God brings several things to mind—His wonderful works, precious promises, lasting love, marvelous mercy, and great grace. And I think I am safe in saying that of all things nothing is more amazing than grace– even though it cannot be fully understood or explained.

If I try to describe grace there seems to be no end to the things I could say, yet no way to adequately explain it–I fail before I begin. In fact sometimes I feel the more I try to describe it the more I distract from its beauty. Still I feel compelled to try. Once you experience the grace of God you can’t help but want others to know of its greatness.

Grace is God’s unmerited favor, unconditional love, and undeserved kindness. Grace is receiving what you need although you do not deserve it, cannot earn it, cannot purchase it, and cannot pay it back– even if you tried. It is a gift with no strings attached. It enriches, empowers, enables, and enlarges. It is free and, like gravity, flowing from the higher to the lower, from the greater to the lesser. And it flows from an infinite inexhaustible gushing source.

Somethings seem too good to be true and we are reluctant to believe it or receive it. But God’s grace is too good to not be true! The mind of man cannot possibly conceive of such a thing. It is contrary to our natural reasoning and inclinations. We tend to think we must do something to appease the wrath of God and to gain His favor, obligating Him to come to our aid. Grace, however, throws all that out the window. Grace must flow freely, ever downward, to supply what is most needed to those who are totally undeserving.

The last verse of the Bible says, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” ( Rev. 22:21) and that is my prayer for each of you. I could want nothing better and you need nothing more than grace. In that one simple word we find all we need.

“Rejoice alway…“– Phil. 4:4

Winston Churchill said, ” The price of greatness is responsibility“. He was right. The great person is devoted to duty— regardless of the difficulties. He gives great attention to little things. He does ordinary thing extraordinarily well— so much as he is able to do. Taking Jesus as the model for his ministry he does what Jesus did—those things that please the Father.

Satan is a liar and sin is deceitful. What we think will be a blessing becomes a burden– or even worse, bonds that enslave us. What appears to be a fine hair or cobweb becomes a cart rope that we cannot break. Way back in 1868, Archibald Brown described the deceitfulness of sin like this:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”–Psalms 139:23-24
It will be worth our while—to think seriously of the things in us—that only God can see. There are sins which are hidden from ourselves, of which our conscience is not aware—our unknown errors. The evil in us which lies too deep to be discovered. There is a SELF in us, which even we ourselves do not see! There are depths of our being—into which our own eyes cannot pierce. You may say that you know of no sins, errors, or faults in yourself, and you may be sincere; still this is not evidence that you are sinless.

Our conscience is not the final court. It is not enough to have the approval of our own heart. There are errors and evils in the holiest life on earth—which only God’s eye can detect. We must ask God to search us, if we would be made clean.

We cannot see our own faults—even as our neighbors can see them. There is wisdom in the wish that we might see ourselves, as others see us—for it would free us from many a blunder and foolish notion.

We are prejudiced in our own favor. We are disposed to be charitable toward our own shortcomings. We make all sorts of allowances for our own faults. We are wonderfully patient with our own weaknesses. We are blind to our own blemishes. We look at our good qualities through magnifying glasses; and at our faults and errors with the lenses reversed—making them appear very small. We see only the best of ourselves.

If you were to meet yourself on the street some morning—that is, the person God sees you to be—you would probably not recognize yourself!

We remember the little story that the prophet Nathan told King David, about a rich man’s injustice toward a poor man, and how David’s anger flamed up. “This man must die!” cried the king. He did not recognize himself—in the man he so despised, until Nathan quietly said, “You are the man!”

We are all too much like David.

If the true chronicle of your life were written in a book, in the form of a story, and you were to read the chapters over—you probably would not identify the story as your own!

We do not know our real self. We do not imagine there is so much about us that is morally ugly and foul, that is positively wicked. But God searches and knows the innermost and hidden things of our heart!–J R Miller