More grace…yet to come

 

Marc Drake, Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church Sun Lakes

We all know of places we’ve yet to visit. There are books we’ve yet to read. People we’ve yet to meet. In the same way, there are aspects of the grace of God that believers have yet to experience. The word “grace” comprises all the joys and blessings God wants to pour into our lives. Even for one who has been a Christian for many years, there are aspects of God’s grace he or she has never even thought about. John the Baptist cried out concerning Jesus, “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16). The phrase used here means “grace piled upon grace!”

At the same time, grace never ignores the terrible reality of sin. For if we fail to see the reality of our hopeless condition outside of Christ, grace won’t seem amazing to us. To minimize our unworthiness is to minimize God’s grace. Eighteenth century pastor and hymn writer John Newton certainly understood this truth. He knew that grace confronts us with the fact that we are much less than we thought we were, even as it assures us that we can be far more than we could ever imagine. Thus, he wrote:

“Amazing Grace! how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.”

Yes, grace exposes our blindness but then gives us eyes to see, as we come to know the transforming grace of God through Jesus Christ. Because of Christ’s work on the cross, we have access to God; his door is always open to us. (Hebrews 4:16). We may enter freely and frequently. Oh, how we should rejoice in God’s grace – “grace piled upon grace!” In poetic fashion, Anna Waring put it like this: “…a new song is in my mouth to long-loved music set – glory to Thee for all the grace I have not tasted yet.”

Give thanks today for the blessings you’ve received because of God’s amazing grace. Then pray: “Glory to you, O Lord, for all the grace I have not tasted yet.”