For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.
Summary: Knowing our Lord and talking about him are two different things. We can do one without the other. However, when we know the Lord and talk about him, the way we talk says as much as the words we use.
As I read today’s passage, I am struck by a question: How does one speak about the unspeakable?
For example, imagine that you happen to spend an hour or two with someone who changes your life. During this brief period, you are overwhelmed by some otherworldly quality about this person you have met. Their innocence, intensity, and capacity for love are beyond anything you have ever known.
Before you part company, this person provides you with assurances that the God of all Creation has chosen you to be with him in heaven for all eternity. You need never worry about anything ever again. All you will ever need has been provided for. Every breath you take has been mapped out.
When you have taken your last one, you will be transformed into a marvelous eternal being with virtually unlimited power. You will have knowledge beyond what any human has ever known. Your life will never end, and you will be filled with peace and joy that will make every moment of your existence more intensely blissful than the sum of every good feeling you have ever had while on earth.
How would you speak about such a person?
Paul has had such a visit. I don’t mean to suggest that what I have written describes what Paul experienced, but something similar happened to him. He was visited by Jesus personally (Acts 9:1-19). When he speaks about his Lord, it is with reverence and humility that reveal awe.
Jesus is the “grace of God” that Paul speaks of. Jesus is the one who offers salvation to all people. Jesus is the one who changed Paul’s life forever.
Instead of stating this bluntly, Paul has to work up to it. He reverently talks about the person who offers salvation but does not dare address them as a person.
There is a danger in approaching the grace of God too casually. When we talk about God as if he lived next door, it does not make him appear intimate and powerful. Instead of our Sunday best, it makes him seem less valued, like the clothes we wear for working in the yard.
Who is God to you?
Is he an overwhelming source of power and joy, or is he that old cross you used to wear around your neck stuffed in the back of your top dresser drawer? The words we choose to describe our God say as much about us as they do about the thoughts we are sharing.
“The grace of God” is as elegant a description of our Lord Jesus as you will find anywhere. After all of his years knowing the Lord, Paul is still so deeply in love that he resorts to a poetic turn of phrase to describe Jesus.
Application: Listen to yourself talk, and then listen some more. Do you sound like the person you want to be?
Food for Thought: When someone speaks obliquely about another person, it raises questions in the mind about who they are talking about. Are these questions helpful in any way?
If someone starts to question and desires to learn more, that could help lead to seeking God. Searching and seeking the Lord leads to knowing Him more. Jeremiah 29: 13; Psalm 24: 6; Psalm 105: 3 – 4; Isaiah 51: 1.
Rich,
I like the passages you chose for your comment today. Thank you!
Questions are a powerful motivator!
I agree that someone could start to question the path they are on, or if the direction the choices they have made or if the choices they are presently contemplating making are wise or prudent ones.
Many things can cause people to think about choices. Problems in relationships. difficulties with finances, issues with relatives, spouses, children, boy or girl friends. Turmoil in health, employment, status.
Perceived success or failure in areas of life which are of variable importance to the individual in question. The amount of pain and suffering, the repercussions of perhaps good or poor decisions. Are there addictions, or less desirable lifestyle choices which have become issues.
Are guilt, shame, or fear motivating factors to seek change or solutions.
Is lack of fulfillment, in spite of certain successes in various areas of life leading a individual to question what is truly important or important. Are thoughts of the eternal, spiritual, or metaphysical turning a person to consider life outside outside of concrete, utilitarian, or simply materialistic goals or objectives. Has a person come face to face with possibly their own selfishness, sinfulness, lack of God consciousness or failure to love that which is true, right, just, lovely, kind, and honors God and blesses others. Are they just caught up in self-indulgent behavior and care for only themselves and possibly those very close to them in relationships?
All of these may become opportunities for the Holy Spirit to open the door and a Christian to share the good news of the gospel.
We should pray that the spiritual blindness may be removed. That our words and testimony, and God’s word may take root and grow. That this person will realize their condition and the consequences of failure to repent and embrace Christ and His finished work on the cross for them.
We must pray for the grace of God to shine forth from us and through us. That the Holly Spirit would work, convict and bring people and specifically these individuals to a saving, born again embracing of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Entering into an eternal relationship with Him, becoming a member of God’s family, and possession of eternal salvation and forgiveness is the only hope for people. We should not forget this or lose consciousness of how important this is.
Making disciples, and sharing the good news is the reason we are here according to God’s kingdom program and priorities as I view the scriptures in addition to several other things.
We should be careful to keep the main things the main things and not be sidetracked onto perphiferial issues or topics.
Have a great weekend and enjoy God’s goodness and favor as you look to and walk with Him. May all who call upon the name of the Lord and desire to glorify Him and honor and serve Him be Blessed and refreshed by His love, faithfulness, gifts and blessings.
Thank you, Jeff.
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