December 29 I Wednesday

Zechariah 9-12

Revelation 20

“As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For He says, ‘In the time of My favour I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’” —2 Corinthians 6:1-2

The life of the Apostle Paul stands out as one of unrelenting pressure and grind. In his second letter to the Corinthians, he writes about extremely difficult hardships he has faced: beatings, riots, imprisonments, persecutions, shipwrecks, sleeplessness, conflicts, hunger, sorrow, poverty, and these are not once in a while occurrences, but a way of life for him.

      Normally, we would run away from these things, but Paul’s response is not to receive God’s grace in vain. He writes, “I tell you now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation” (Galatians 6:2). ” If we have received God’s grace simply to get us into heaven, and know nothing of His grace in tumultuous times, then we have received God’s grace in vain. God’s grace is not just for the day we were converted and saved, but for today. Today is the day when His salvation is being worked out in us.

      Contrary to what leaders in the church at Corinth believed, the gospel of Jesus Christ does not exempt us from hardship and suffering, but Paul says it throws us into the thick of them. When Paul says, “As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain,” he is saying not to fail to receive the resources of God.

      God’s grace is not simply for times of hardship, but is something we receive every day. Today is the day of God’s favour, and we are to go about every day drawing upon God’s provision and presence. Paul writes, “For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people’” (2 Corinthians 6:16). Many of us have difficulty in realizing that God is not just up in the sky somewhere, but He is in us by His Holy Spirit. In every day, every crisis, every joy and every situation, we have the divine sufficiency of the presence of God.

      The Christian life is living day by day, moment by moment in dependence upon God. We do not ask Him to give us back what we had a year ago, last month or even yesterday, but to give us today what He has for us today. There is no end to the grace of God, and He has a fresh provision for us every day!

Prayer: Beautiful Lord, thank You for the sufficiency of Your indwelling Spirit. May I always draw upon Your grace to see me through each day. Thank You, Lord.