God’s Love and Grace
The other day as I was driving on the highway on a business trip, I was thinking about
Philippians verse 6 "…that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."
Our small group is going through a verse-by-verse study of Philippians. This lead me to then think more about the doctrine of "Love" and of "Grace", which lead me to think more about
John 10:29 "…no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand", and
Psa. 139:10 "even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me", other similar verses.
The other day as I was driving on the highway on a business trip, I was thinking about
Philippians verse 6 "…that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."
Our small group is going through a verse-by-verse study of Philippians. This lead me to then think more about the doctrine of "Love" and of "Grace", which lead me to think more about
John 10:29 "…no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand", and
Psa. 139:10 "even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me", other similar verses.
My trip was several hours, so I had a lot of time to ponder, praise, and pray. As I was thinking about John 10:29, etc, the image of my right hand holding my four year old daughter Faith's hand as she walked, entered my mind. I imagined her walking beside me, holding my hand (or actually, me holding her hand), walking over a flat sidewalk, and also over very rough areas. As we walked the rough areas, I would hold her hand tighter, as to not to let slip. For if it slipped, she would surely be gone (as if a raging river would take her away forever).
As the image left, I realized that my right hand grip on my steering wheel was extremely tight, so much so, that my right arm was tense and my palm was sweaty. I then immediately thanked God again for His Love for us and His Grace. I also realized that since my hand was human, it became sweaty and slippery and ultimately, it would fail to hold on to the grip. However, God's righteous right hand is not human, it will not sweat and become slippery, and it will never fail.
The next morning I went running from the hotel. Continuing to meditate on
God’s amazing Love and Grace, I ran past a homeless person as I cut through a wooded area, near an overpass. As I passed him, I felt God say, “I Love him too.” Even though he
was dirty, homeless, and hungry, God Loves him and cares for him. I felt that I needed to let him know that God loves him. A little later, I stopped by the coffee shop and purchased two coffees and two hot breakfast sandwiches (the same breakfast, one for him and one for myself). I took it to the underpass to give to him. He was not there, but his things were. I left the coffee and sandwich there with a note saying “God Loves You”. As I was walking away, leaving it there, I thought more about the characteristics about a gift. W
e know that when talking about a gift, the ‘receiver’ does not have any say so as to what the gift is or when it is given. The ‘giver’s ‘ motivation or reason may not be known to the ‘receiver’. The ‘giver’ fully intends the ‘receiver’ to accept it, but has no guarantee that the ‘receiver’ will accept it. Then I thought about the gift of salvation God has given to all men
(“because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men…” – 1 Tim 4:10).
I thought about how God gave it to us, fully knowing that not all of us will accept His gift. And then again about the incredible Love He has for us, even the unwanted in the world’s eye, He loves and wants to give a gift, and has given a gift.
If you have a chance this week, mediate on His Love, Grace, and other aspects of Himself that He has revealed.
