The Gifts of Grace

Have you noticed that God promises grace in difficulties, but not necessarily deliverance? The first time I read Proverbs 3:34—“Yet He gives grace to the afflicted”—I looked long and hard to see if grace could also mean deliverance. No such luck.

Grace is often a training ground run through tear-blurred eyes. But in the end, it leaves our hearts strong, our eyes focused, and our minds clear.

Grace does its work and affects the condition of our attitudes and perspectives. The course grace charts for us prioritizes life’s variables into a meaningful hierarchy. It refreshes us on the fundamental issues we must hold dear.

Grace gives us God’s perspective while circumstances yell their opinion. Grace reminds us that we are only passing through this earthly assignment. It keeps us focused on the fact that we are strangers and aliens in an often hostile environment. It keeps our position as ambassadors in the forefront of our thoughts and refuses to let us mistake this place for our homeland. Grace reminds us each day that we are members of God’s kingdom and that our family traces its lineage from heaven’s genealogy.

Grace establishes Earth as a laboratory and life as a marathon of varying lengths.

Next, I want to examine the pivot point of grace.