Grace in our strengths

For it is by grace you have been saved.  Ephesians 2: 8

I became a servant of this Gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Ephesians 3: 8

We are all very familiar with the fact that we are saved by grace; there is nothing we can do to save ourselves – it is all the work of God and we rejoice in this. However grace is so much more than the key to our salvation which unlocks the door to eternal life in Christ Jesus.

Grace not only saves us but enables us to ‘do the good works which God prepared in advance for us to do’ Ephesians 2: 10.  I think there can be a tendency to do the things we are good at in our own strength and then ask for God’s grace to help us in our weaknesses. We know when Paul was battling with his ‘thorn in the flesh’ he found that ‘God’s grace was sufficient for him, for God’s power is made perfect in weakness’ II Cor 12: 9.  However I also believe we need God’s grace to help us in our strengths.

Paul makes plain that he was a great Jew before his conversion and was faultless in legalistic righteousness (Philippians 3: 6).  He knew the law and he persecuted anyone who didn’t keep the law especially these new followers of the Way.  There was no grace! When Jesus met with Paul on the road to Damascus, he didn’t just save him by grace but he used him to write and preach such profound truths that Christians today are still poring over the Scriptures trying to fully understand the revelation that Jesus gave him. The Scriptures were his area of strength before his salvation, yet God’s grace touched this and transformed it into something that Paul could never have attained in his own strength and studies.

God has prepared wonderful works for us to do but we need his grace to touch our lives and transform them in order to do these works for his glory.  Many Christians I know who are used greatly by the Lord, just wonder at what he does through them. They say things such as, ‘I just and stand and watch what God is doing and am amazed.’ It is not false modesty but a genuine sense of wonder that God uses them even in their strengths and the result is something far greater than anything they could do. Their participation is vital but the outcome is divine.

God’s grace is waiting to touch and transform both our strengths and weaknesses so we may bear great fruit for his glory. Ask God to touch those areas of your life which are your strong points and be amazed at what God will do through you – so much more than you can ask or imagine.