Grabbing Grace

"From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another."

John 1:16

All my time is spent working. When I look around all I see is things that aren't getting done, things that need completed, repaired, corrected, updated, organized, studied, prepared, scheduled...it

never ends.

All this doing and going and working is overwhelming. Why can't I ever feel like I have accomplished what I have set out to do?

Because I am the one setting out to do it.

"All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

Psalm 139:16

Very rarely do I wake up in the morning relaxed in the knowledge that I am fully equipped to meet everything coming my way today (2 Timothy 3:17). God is fully aware and fully in control of each and every moment of my life. As Psalm 139 promises, God has ordained every one of my days. But I wake up focused on my to-do list and live in the stress of never marking off everything I "needed" to get done.

Our verse today brings everything down to one simple way to break this exhausting cycle.

Grace.

By grabbing ahold of grace with both hands and refusing to be shaken off by the unexpected and undone.

By learning to understand that there will always be something else that needs my attention, I can grab grace and focus in on what God would have me do. And be OK with letting go of the rest.

We are promised that in the fullness of grace we will receive one blessing after another. What is the blessing you could most use today? Peace? Time to catch your breath? Giving yourself permission to put down the to-do list and just be in the moment? The ability to be OK with what didn't get done? A refreshing of your spirit through a quality time with God alone?

There are some women noted in Scripture that I am quite sure learned how to grab ahold of grace and not let go.

"Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord. Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord."

Romans 16:12

 

Notice the three most important words that describe these women's work.

 

In the Lord.

 

We don't know what these women did specifically. That wasn't the point. We were only to learn from them that they worked hard in the Lord. They had it figured out. The Lord is the point. When we know what the point is, we don't stress over the work.

 

Yes, it is in the Lord we find strength, the ability to prioritize, and the excitement for the purpose. It is by grabbing grace that we find our sense of accomplishement. We can go to sleep with peace in what we did, and wake with anticipation of a day spent serving the Lord and being blessed for it.