He Gives Us All We Need

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” (2 Peter 1:3-4).

Have you ever faced a circumstance in life in which you simply didn’t feel prepared or equipped? Perhaps you lacked wisdom to make an important decision. Or maybe you faced a new role—like marriage or motherhood—and didn’t know what to expect. Maybe you encountered a season of intense suffering and simply didn’t have the strength to endure it. In this passage, Peter tells us that God has given us all that we need to live for the glory of God. Whatever the circumstance, believers have “all things that pertain to life and godliness.” Calvin describes this as “God has copiously unfolded the immense resources of his power.”

Do we live as though that is true?

Does “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” only refer to things like learning and studying the Bible? Or maybe serving in a ministry at the church? Or to the work of missions? Is it limited to certain areas of life?

What about when we’ve been without a job for a year? Does his divine power grant us what we need then too? Or when we’ve been betrayed by one we’ve loved and trusted? Or when we learn our child has a disability? Or when we receive hard news from the doctor about recent blood work?

Does God’s divine power provide what we need for life and godliness in the face of hard things?

Matthew Henry notes that “all things” includes: “All things that have any relation to, and influence upon, the true spiritual life, the life and power of godliness, are from Jesus Christ; in him all fulness dwells, and it is from him that we receive, and grace for grace (Jn. 1:16), even all that is necessary for the preserving, improving, and perfecting of grace and peace.”

Life in this fallen world is filled with hardship. None of us escape the effects of sin, whether our own sin, other’s sin against us, or the effects of sin on the created world around us. As Jesus pointed out, he didn’t come to save those who are healthy, but those who are sick (Mk. 2:17). This means, God doesn’t call to himself those who are capable, prepared, and equipped. He doesn’t call those who already have it all together. He calls the desperate, the weak, the needy. He calls messy sinners to himself by his grace, through faith in the Son, and saves us from sin. He then gives us everything we need to live for him in this world. He gives us the spiritual wisdom we need to navigate difficult decisions. He gives us strength to do the things he’s called us to. He gives us grace upon grace. And he does so through “knowledge of him.” Faith in Christ is the conduit through which we receive “all things.”

In Christ, we have all that we need to live for the glory of God.

Peter then tells us that we becomes “partakers of the divine nature” through “his precious and very great promises.” God’s word—his promises to us—changes and transforms us through the work of the Spirit who sanctifies us by the word of truth (Jn. 17:17). We are being remade into the image bearers we were created to be. And the Westminster Confession points out that our ability to live a life of godliness comes from the Spirit (16.3) who works in us to put sin to death and put on righteousness. The Spirit convicts, encourages, teaches, and transforms us to live as children of the Father.

God calls us to himself and then supplies what we need to live for him. In whatever circumstances we face, we can turn to him, cry out in prayer, and ask him to supply the wisdom, strength, endurance, and help we need to live for him.

Photo by Amy Tran on Unsplash

All is Grace

The older I get, the more I see God’s grace at work in my life. It’s like looking back at a trail you’ve hiked and seeing how far you’ve come. When I look back over the years, I see how God has carried me. I see his generous provision, his wisdom, his strength. And while I’ve long known his grace, it seems that with age comes an increased awareness of it. An increased dependence upon it. An increased wonder at its magnitude.

For all is grace upon grace.

“For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16).

All is Grace

In many ways it’s simple
and easy to understand.
Explained in just a sentence,
drawn on a napkin by hand.

A tale of love birthed and lost,
of great beauty turned to shame.
Where glory was cast aside
and death was fanned into flame.

A curse laced with a promise—
a Savior would one day come.
To claim the lost and broken,
sin and death are overcome.

There’s more beneath the story,
of a thread woven throughout,
holding the parts together,
one we cannot live without.

Grace is the primary theme,
the story of all stories.
From beginning to the end
and all for God’s own glory.

Undeserved, unearned favor—
from our first breath to the last.
From work to food to shelter
and all the things we’ve amassed.

The rain that waters the earth
and the ground that brings forth food.
The sun that warms and gives light—
all gifts granted for our good.

The Spirit’s breath that wakes us,
the faith that makes us God’s own,
the forgiveness that cleanses us,
and the joy of being known.

God’s grace also changes us,
to the image of his Son.
Cutting away sinful flesh,
until all the work is done.

Take a look and you will see.
In each and ev’ry moment,
The Lord’s favor can be found—
his hand is always present.

So when you share the story
of our fallen human race,
Remember the constant thread
of God’s amazing grace.

Photo by Alex Shute on Unsplash

The God Who Sees

When the kids were younger, we spent a year studying the names of God. It’s an amazing thing to consider: There is so much depth to who God is in his character, in his works, and in his ways, it takes numerous names just to describe him. One of my favorites that we studied was El Roi, the God Who Sees.

Hagar and the God Who Sees

El Roi is found in the story of Hagar, Sarai’s Egyptian servant. Abram and Sarai had no children. They were advanced in years, and though God promised Abram he would have an heir and that his descendants would be as many as the stars in the night sky, it seems as though they thought God needed some help to make it happen. So, at Sarai’s arrangement, Abram slept with Hagar in the hopes that she would conceive and bear him a child. When Hagar became pregnant by Abram, she treated Sarai with contempt. “And Sarai said to Abram, May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!’ But Abram said to Sarai, ‘Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.’ Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her” (Genesis 16:5-6).

Hagar ran off into the wilderness and the angel of the Lord met her there. She confessed to running away from her mistress and he instructed her to return. He then promised her a son, Ishmael. “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude” (v. 10). Hagar responded, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me” (v.13). The “God of seeing” is El Roi in Hebrew.

Commentators point out that she literally says, “Have I here also looked after him that sees me? Have I here seen the back parts of him that sees me?" This reminds us of when God told Moses he could only see his back as he walked by in Exodus 33. Hagar marvels at the grace of God who sees her even while far away from Abram and Sarai, even when she left her mistress, even as she is running back home to Egypt. She didn’t look for him; God sought her out. He met her where she was. He corrected her. He blessed and provided for her. (And he did so again in Genesis 21).

In the New Testament, we read numerous accounts of Christ “seeing” those who are unseen. Women in those days were the most unseen (except for children). Yet over and over we read accounts of our Savior breaking societal norms by speaking to women. He interacted with those whom society had ignored and cast out. He showered them with his grace and their lives were forever changed.

Like Hagar, we are undeserving of such favor. We are all runaways, in one way or another. Yet Christ looks at us and sees our sin. He sees our failures. He sees our wayward wanderings. He also sees our shame and the horrific things we have endured in this fallen world. He sees our sorrows and our fears. And he gives us his grace, meeting us where we are, redeeming us, and sanctifying us by his Spirit.

Like Hagar, we should pause in wonder at El Roi, the God who sees. Like the woman at the well, we should marvel at the One who knows all we’ve ever done, and yet he saw us. Like the woman with the alabaster jar, we should weep at the feet of our Savior. For he loved us and he saved us.

The God Who Sees

“Just a touch” she said in her heart,
daring to hope he’d make her clean.
So long rejected and ignored,
would he too treat her as unseen?

A jar of expensive perfume,
broken and poured out on his feet.
She wept and brushed him with her hair.
Would he see her faith made complete?

She came down to the village well
and met one who knew all her shame.
He offered water without end—
could he be the One as he claims?

Forgotten, broken, or abused,
he sees each and every heart.
Giving grace and speaking the truth,
he redeems all he’s set apart.

We are like those women he met
who found his unexpected grace.
He sees our sin and knows our shame—
his blood covers all our disgrace.

God's Enabling Grace

Do you ever think of God’s commands as too hard? In many ways, they seem impossible. The longer we live in this fallen world, the more we see our sins, failures, and weaknesses. Try as we might, we just can’t resist temptation; we just can’t overcome our sin for good.

Sometimes, in facing a besetting sin—a sin that seems to haunt us, taunt us, and rule us—we may feel discouraged. We may want to give up the battle. We may think we just don’t have what it takes to live a life of godliness.

This is an issue Moses addressed in the book of Deuteronomy and it gives us hope in our battle against sin.

Deuteronomy 30

At the end of Deuteronomy, Moses renewed the covenant with God’s people. He reminded them all God had done to rescue and redeem them. He warned them to be watchful and wary of their hearts, lest they turn from God to worship idols. Moses told them of the consequences for sin and the curses that would come upon them if they abandoned their covenant with God.

In chapter 30, Moses spoke about the future. He told them that when they find themselves scattered among the nations as punishment for abandoning the covenant, they would need to repent and seek God’s forgiveness for sin and the Lord would restore them. God would then transform their hearts so that they could love him with all their heart and soul.

He then reminded them that they can obey God and they have the means to do so:

“For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.” (Deuteronomy 30:11-14).

Enabling Grace

The reason God’s commands are not too hard is because he supplies the grace to keep them. The same One who gives the commands also enables us to obey them. For the Israelites, that grace was “the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.”

On this side of the cross, we know that it is the Holy Spirit who brings us from death to life, who removes our heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh. It is the Spirit who also gives us the word and enables us to understand it. He is the one who uses it with precision in our hearts, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

Paul tells us in Titus that the same grace which justifies us is the same grace that sanctifies us “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age” (Titus 2:11-12). Peter tells us that we have been given all we need to live a godly life: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Peter 1:3).

Why is it not too hard to obey God’s commands? Because he enables us to do so through the power of the Spirit at work in us and the through knowledge of who Christ is and what he has done. The gospel tells us that Christ obeyed the law perfectly for us. His obedience is credited to us. God looks at us and sees Christ’s righteousness.

This is good news! God’s commands are impossible apart from Christ, but are made possible through the gospel and the Spirit of Christ at work in us. This is good news for when we face temptations to sin. This is good news when we are weary and weighed down by our failures. This is good news for the weak and worn and discouraged.

We have the very Spirit of Christ living within us. The same power that raised Christ from the dead is at work in us. Day by day, he is transforming us into the likeness of our Savior. While the battle is indeed hard, we are not left on our own. Christ is with us, strengthening and sustaining us to resist sin and walk in obedience. When we stumble and fall, his grace covers us. Because we are united to him by faith, he is for us what we can’t be; he is righteous in our place. And he promises that the work he began in us will be completed. In eternity, we’ll shed our sin once for all and will spend forever worshiping God for his grace toward us in Christ.

Dear friend, if you find yourself facing besetting sin and thinking “It’s too hard!” turn to Christ. Repent of your sin and receive forgiveness through the gospel of grace. Rest and rely upon God’s grace for you in Christ and the work of the Spirit in you. Utilize the means of grace to resist and fight against your sin. And know that one day you will reach the finish line. The work God is doing in you will one day be complete. What a joy to look forward to!

All because of God’s enabling grace.

His Grace Covers Me

I’ve been thinking a lot about God’s grace lately. About its depth and breadth. About its significance. About its necessity.

Grace is often define as unmerited favor. God’s grace is kindness we haven’t earned. Yet such grace is also de-merited favor. It’s not only that we haven’t earned God’s favor, we don’t even deserve it.

Life itself is an act of God’s grace: “nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25). Certainly, God’s grace is inexorably linked to our justification: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). But it’s also the source of sanctification: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age” (Titus 2:11-12).

The more I dwell on God’s grace in my life, the more I see it:

• in the trials I face

• in times of waiting

• in times of joy

• in interruptions to my plans

• in challenging relationships

• in my failures

• in times of rest and refreshment

Indeed, God’s grace is more extensive, necessary, abundant, and amazing than my finite mind can fathom.

His Grace Covers Me

Before the very first dawn,
before life took its first breath,
I was known,
chosen,
beloved,
treasured.
Before I ever was, God’s grace covered me.

In a quiet garden, and on a moonlit night.
He prayed, wept, and left crimson droplets
He’s then arrested,
beaten,
mocked,
crucified.
A lamb slaughtered in my place.

His grace covered me.

Memories, like dark shadows, cling to me
Haunting me wherever I go
whispering,
chiding,
mocking,
shaming.
The past merges with the present, I cannot tell the difference.

Yet, his grace covers me.

My heart fixates on created things,
Striving to fill the aching void.
Longing for purpose,
meaning,
hope,
deliverance.
They fail to deliver and I only want more.

His grace still covers me.

My tongue is a traitor, saying things I soon regret.
Hurting those I love with:
sarcastic jabs,
biting retorts,
piercing put-downs,
harsh comebacks.
I wound and slay with the smallest of weapons.

His grace continues to cover me.

My world flips upside-down and inside-out
as I face sorrow and suffering:
loss,
illness,
persecution,
failure.
I cry out, “Why?” “How long?” and “When will you deliver?”

Then too, his grace covers me.

The day is almost night; my flesh and heart fail.
The veil gives way and I behold his face— now
perfected,
cleansed,
healed,
glorified.
Sanctified and complete, I worship before my Savior’s feet.

From beginning to end, his grace covers me.

Do you trace God’s grace in your life?

Grace 101

I started blogging about twelve years ago. If you don't already know, blogging and writing can be a lonely venture. At that time, I didn't know any bloggers. So I explored around online and joined a few blogging communities. Some of those communities had hundreds of bloggers!

As I read blogs and got to know other bloggers, I thought I had found my place. After all, I heard familiar words I had grown up with in the church: words like grace, mercy, love, and redemption. It's kind of like when you go somewhere new and you meet someone who knows someone you know. You start sharing stories about that person and you smile and laugh over the shared connection. It started out like that for me, but the more I participated in some of these communities, the more I realized we didn't actually know the same grace that people wrote about. It was like talking to someone about Susie Smith from high school and then realizing there were two Susie Smith's and we were each talking about a different Susie.

What I discovered was, though we used the same word, our definitions of grace were very different.

In Christianity these days, and even outside of Christianity, many people use the word grace. Everyone knows the hymn Amazing Grace and even popular musicians sing it. But not everyone knows the grace of the Bible.

There are multiple ways I've heard grace misused and misunderstood. Sometimes it is nuanced in a way that leads to misunderstanding. Sometimes people emphasize grace in one area of faith but not in others. Sometimes they use it interchangeably with words like patience or forbearance. But the definition that concerns me the most is when it is used to mean overlooking something (most often sin) as in "This is who I am and God accepts me that way. He gives me grace to be myself." 

God's grace is bigger, greater, deeper, and more amazing than many people realize. It is important that we understand the grace of the Bible so that when we hear people talk about it or read it in a blog, article, or book, we know what the writer is talking about. Because believing in a grace that is different from the Bible is not only misleading, it is also dangerous to our faith.

There is much to learn from God's word about his grace, but here are few things to start:

A Few Things About God's Grace

God's grace provides all things; all is grace: Everything we have, even the very breath we breathe is a gift of God's grace. "Nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything" (Acts 17:25). Even those who are not saved benefit from this grace, which we call God's "common grace." "For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45).

God's grace awakens us from death to life: Grace is God's unmerited favor toward us as sinners. It is love and kindness that we don't deserve. It began in eternity past when he chose us in Christ to be adopted into the family of God (Ephesians 1:4-5). By his grace, he awakens us from spiritual death and gives us new life, "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked...But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:1-6). 

God's grace saves us: We can't save ourselves; salvation is God's work. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8). "Unless we are born of the Spirit of God, unless God sheds His holy love in our hearts, unless He stoops in His grace to change our hearts, we will not love Him. He is the One who takes the initiative to restore our souls." (The Holiness of God p. 180).

God's grace trains us: Upon salvation, God does not leave us in our sin. He forgives our sin because of the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf and accepts Christ's perfect and righteous life lived for us. But he doesn't leave us there to continue in our sin. He doesn't overlook our sin and say it's all okay with him. Rather, he trains us by his grace to put off sin and put on obedience. "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works" (Titus 2:11-14).

God's grace sanctifies us: By his grace, God changes and transforms us into the likeness of his Son. "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me" (1 Corinthians 15:10, emphasis mine). "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12-13, emphasis mine). 

God's grace completes us: God will finish the work he began in us. "He will sustain you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." (1 Corinthians 1:8-9). "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).

Grace is a beautiful word that is essential to our faith. It is the ground on which we stand. Because it is so important, we need to know what it means so that we are not drawn away or misled by false teaching. And the more we learn, understand, and consider God's grace—the depth and breadth of it—the more we are able to sing "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound!" 

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