Growth

Grace Upon Grace

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When I was in high school, the wife of one of my teachers was diagnosed with a brain tumor. After an intense surgery, tumor was determined to be benign and as far as I know, she suffered little ramifications from the tragic affair. After receiving the good news, many people responded to her husband with these words, “God is faithful.” His response has stuck with me all these years later. He said, “God is always faithful. In this situation, He was especially gracious.”

It’s been an important lesson for me over the years. We are tempted to say “God is good” when we get good news, and yet forget that He is still good when it’s bad news we receive. His goodness, and His faithfulness are not determined by our circumstances. They are the essence of Who He is.

However, there are times in our lives where He pours out specific grace in difficult circumstances. We see this is in the Bible too. Yet too often we are focused on the escape from bad things that we fail to appreciate the many gracious gifts that our Savior has given.

Take Lot’s story as an example (Gen 19:1-22). When we tell this story, we tend to concentrate on two facts – that Lot escaped and that his wife turned into a pillar of salt. However, when we look at only those two things, we fail to miss the many graces that are seen. First, Lot is given safe passage even though the city has so few righteous people in it that Abraham couldn’t safely barter for its rescue (Gen. 18:22-33). In other words, even though Lot choose to set himself in the midst of hedonist and ungodly people (Gen. 13), God graciously rescued him. Beyond that, Lot made a specific request that he not have to escape to the hills (Gen 19:17-20). It’s rather audacious if you think about it, bartering for where safety would be given even though rescue had just been offered. Yet, God graciously provides his preferred place of escape as well (Gen. 19:21), giving him grace upon grace.

There are no doubts moments like this in our own lives – moments where God is beyond generous and gives us grace upon previously given graces. The question is –  are we paying attention enough to notice and do we respond with the gratitude that such generosity so obviously deserves?

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Being Content

When You’re The One

Since I have a sister who is less than 2 years older than me, there was a time in our lives when a lot of our Christmas presents were identical. In fact, when my parents and grandparents would get us the same thing, they would wrap it in the same paper so that we knew to open those gifts together, ensuring that we didn’t ruin the surprise for one another. As we grew, the number of identical gifts lessened. As that occurred, my mom would often remind us that “although things may not be equal, they are fair.” She wanted us to be assured that while our gifts may not match, they were bestowing the same level of generosity on us both.

In reality, though, my mom could have rightly explained to us that it didn’t really matter whether things were equal, as any gift was an act of graciousness. Therefore, whether I experienced that graciousness to the same degree as my sister wasn’t the crux of the matter; what really mattered was whether I was appreciative of whatever generosity I did receive. My parents probably wisely thought that a preteen would not quite grasp that and so it was better to keep things “fair.” However, the lesson remains an important one. Because just like I was given to a comparison of gifts at Christmas, we are prone to compare the gifts that our Father gives us. Often times we forget that any gift is a undeserved.

Luke 4 may serve as a reminder of this. In speaking to the crowds, Christ reflects on some example of Old Testament provisions – a widow’s son who was raised from the dead, a leper who was healed from his disease. As our Savior shares, these weren’t the only people who were suffering; in fact, these weren’t the only ones who were suffering from these very same afflictions. Additionally, both of them were foreigners; they were not part of God’s chosen people, and yet God still decided to bless them and not others. While we may consider this “unfair,” it is not. Sometimes God chooses to bless us; other times others are the recipients of His generosity. The challenge is that we are often so focused on the times that we’re not, that we neglect the moments when we are. We are so concerned with what hasn’t been given to us, that we forget all that has. We may not receive everything we want or desire, but God gives us far more than we deserve. If He gave us nothing else (and He does), the gift of salvation through His Son expands and stretches the bounds of generosity to such a degree, that it alone should regularly cause us to pause, and give thanks. 

We’re used to dwelling on all the blessings that we seem to be missing. Sometimes, however, we’re the one upon which the blessing has been poured. We would do better to focus on those times and to recognize that while the distribution of God’s gifts may not be equal, they are far more than we deserve.

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