Thought for Today
Jeremiah 31:2 Thus says the LORD: The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest,
Zechariah 4:7 What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain; and he shall bring out the top stone amid shouts of 'Grace, grace to it!'"
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth . . . 16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God--
The theme for the devotionals this week in These Days is “Floating in Streams of Grace.” The Greek word χάρις (karis) is one of my favorite words. The lexical meanings include graciousness, charm, goodwill, favor, kindness and several other English words describing very attractive characteristics for Christians . . . and for everyone else.
Interestingly, the word grace is primarily found in the New Testament. There are appearances of that Greek word in the Old Testament, but it is much more commonly found in the New Testament. The word is used in reference both to God and to humans. For me, the most remembered usage is that of Paul in the Epistle to the Ephesians. That verse above has long been one of my favorites. It was frequently used during our worship services at our church in Houston, especially as an Assurance of Pardon following the Confession of Sin.
In seminary, I learned about the ‘solas.’ These were 3 Latin phrases used as shortcut summations for the principals of the Protestant Reformation. They are: sola fide (by faith alone); sola gratia (by grace alone); and, sola Scriptura (Scripture alone). They were and still remain significant issues and ideas differentiating Protestants from Catholics. We don’t focus as much on these ideas today as did our Protestant ancestors-in-the-faith. Maybe we should. They are the ‘whys’ of our being. For me, the essential foundation of our faith is that we are completely and totally dependent on our Creator God. Our salvation, our reconciliation with God rests solely on our faith in God’s Son, Jesus. That salvation is freely given all who accept Jesus, merely (?) by the grace of God. There is nothing we can do to bring about our salvation other than to accept God’s gracious gift. There are no human salvific acts other than acceptance and belief.
Salvation is neither guaranteed nor assured in any way by anything we can accomplish on our own. That is not to imply or state that only Protestant Christians can and will be saved. It is only a recognition that the whole issue is entirely up to God alone. It is not about amassing ‘frequent flyer miles’ or collecting enough ‘trading stamps.’ Salvation, reconciliation with God, is all about acceptance and belief. As far as who gets into eternity and who does not, only God decides.
I love the theme this week in These Days. Admittedly, I don’t usually think about grace in terms of running water or streams. Today, the writer did reference one of my favorite hymns, When Peace Like a River. Yesterday, as I prepared our bulletin for worship this coming Sunday, that hymn is the one I chose for our Closing Hymn. I chose it, in part, because I love to sing it. I especially love the refrain, “It is well It is well with my soul, with my soul./It is well, it is well with my soul.”
There is a timeless truth in the idea that as we are floating in streams of God’s grace, it will be well with our souls. Some days, it seems more difficult to recognize in the world around us those streams of God’s grace. Some days our world seems much more like a dirty, muddy rivulet of slow-flowing waste.
On those ‘muddy water’ days, it helps to pick up your (my) Bible and read John’s words about Jesus being full of grace and truth and that From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. It helps to read Jesus’ words about living waters, "John 7:37 Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, 38 and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, 'Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.'"
Stay safe, float in the river of God’s grace, trust God,
Pastor Ray