C-19 Reflection #83: Gifting Grace
C~19 Daily Reflection (#83)
Theme: Gifting Grace
Scripture: Ephesians 2:4-10 (The Message)
Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.
7-10 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
Reflection:
“There’s only one catch (to grace). Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you’ll reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too!” ~ Frederick Buechner
NB: You may have been thinking why did we have the same scripture passage everyday this week? First, because it’s an amazing passage at the centre of our faith that really invites us to slow down and go deep. There has been some teaching in previous reflections that have been encouraging you to approach the scripture more reflectively and prayerfully. Why not start with this passage and this topic? Maybe you want to memorize this passage – it would be a good one to commit to heart for sure! At least you want to work your way through these verses in order to pick up the details and never ending nuances. Second, by giving the same passage on grace along with a different reflection quote on grace, we see that both scripture and grace are inexhaustible and that we have to spend time going deep with both in order to come closer to the boundless reality of grace. Scripture helps us to grow in grace. So do the insightful gifts of Frederick Buechner.
