Surprised by the Grace of God.
Good Morning Friends,
God’s is much like the Sun, so perfectly place like His Son in relationship to this world… bringing not only light, but the warmth of love on a cold winter morning… And here as I write awaiting the sunrise in knowledge that there is both a sunrise and a sunset, I am somehow surprised by the warmth that invades me in the knowledge that from God’s perspective the Sun is always shining. Today from my perspective I am trying to get a better view but still on this cloudy, cold winter morning, a warmth and light wells up in me…It is amazing to me that after all the sunrises in my life I am still Surprised by the Grace of God.
Scripture: Each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Ephesians 4:7 (NRSV)
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
Luke 19:4 (NIV)
Message: Yesterday I had a typo. I wrote “Shinning” instead of “Shining.” It was not a reference to Zacchaeus climbing up a sycamore tree. It was just a lingering of my index finger on the “N” key. We all make mistakes. No one is immune. Most of you probably missed it but some of you may have miSunderstood the meaning and still others may have asked what this upwardly climbing light was all about. But God uses our mistakes all the time. God even takes mistakes and turns them into miracles. So let me use my mistake as a teaching opportunity. Friends, never let your mistakes define you. Embrace the power and purpose of Grace is to help you to climb out of your dark pits and embrace the amazing gift of seeing Jesus. Friends, we live in a world placed in its orbit with the sun and moon precisely so life might exist. The mass, the atmosphere, the temperature, and the equilibrium of the world in which we live are amazingly perfect. That is grace. All else seems pretty insignificant. Even our egos and agendas.
Pray we realize that God’s grace is always at work whether we see it or not. Pray our grace and forgiveness be in abundance. Pray we realize that God can even use our mistakes. Pray we seek the right perspective. Pray we receive and share the measure of Grace we have been given. Pray we have grace under pressure. Pray we stop trying to manage our own internal and external darkness. Pray we realize that God’s grace conquers a multitude of flaws…that the favor of a sunrise is not achieved but simply received. Pray we let go of perfect and surrender to forgiveness.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 