Sufficient Grace

Get Off Your High Horse by Tanya Cooper

2 Corinthians 12:9, "And He said to me, ' My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me."

Grace: unmerited favor, the state of kindness and favor towards someone.

What a simple term, and yet difficult concept to wrap your arms around. As I continue in my own personal struggles and find myself in a place of complaining, from a hundred directions God says to me, "My grace is sufficient." And yet I still question it. I question how can God's unearned favor pay a utility bill, let alone a mortgage? And yet Paul shows us the power of God's grace with his very life. Ship wrecked, snake bit, tortured, imprisoned, left for dead, with a constant thorn in his flesh; somehow Paul not only heard but came to understand God's grace is sufficient, it is enough.

And then I read this from Ron McDonald as posted in Jim Spivey's blog this morning, "Midlife is a tough time, for when faced with the heavy load of society's view of our 'inevitable decline towards death,' we encounter some tough questions.  The answers -- or the responses -- are to be found in getting off our high horse and accepting the fact that our success or recognition or happiness is not what connects us to the grace of God.  Instead, we walk with God when we humbly prostrate ourselves before Him, letting go of our petty complaints and competitive games, and the crazy insistence on life being on our terms (which only ensures our instant and lingering death), fully accepting the guidance of the God who accepts us just as we are and provides everything we will ever need to live forever, starting now."

So off my high horse, and enough with my petty complaints, if even to only a few. Back to shameless surrender and trusting in God's guidance, and hopefully experiencing and understanding His sufficient grace.