by Jilene Scherenske
A Short Meditation on I Timothy 1:14
In I Timothy chapter one, verse thirteen, Paul, in thanking Jesus for the ministry in which He has placed him and enabled him to minister, declares what he used to be before his ministry began (“…a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious…” to the church). Then Paul goes on, in verse fourteen to extol the grace of God which he says was “exceeding abundant” toward him. Just what is grace? Let us ponder this question and perhaps gain a crumb’s worth of greater understanding of this marvelous attribute of God.
Firstly, grace is the cross. 2Co 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. Eph 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; This is the grace that saves. If it were not for grace and mercy, there would be no cross; there would be no salvation option!
But grace didn’t stop at the cross. Now it has taken on a huge ministry to usward who have been saved. Because of grace, once we have experienced saving grace, we now, by grace, are compelled to serve God, to glorify Him. It is His grace that works in us to accomplish this. It both employs us and enables us, as Paul stated in verse 12. Although we don’t think of the following verse in this light, I believe a good definition of grace is found in Galatians 2: 20-21 "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate [reject] the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." Christ living in me and living out His life through me is grace! Another verse that we often claim to be the definition of grace is Php 2:13 “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” So we can most accurately say that grace is the power of God working in us.
But grace is even more! Grace is everything! It is responsible for my salvation. It now is responsible for every part of my daily living. It is even responsible not only for the hope of heaven but for getting me there as well. Grace is eternal; it will be with me throughout eternity. My God is grace…He is the God of all grace; His throne is grace; He is full of grace (John 1:14). I cannot live without grace each moment; but more than breath, grace allows /enables me to live for God. I resist grace when I go my own way. I accept grace when I yield to God. Grace truly is God working in me; but even more than that, it is the privilege I have for God to work in me. Grace is God working personally with me, through me, for me so that I may live unto Him. It is my link to Him. Grace has everything to do with His relationship to me personally. Grace is my privilege to have a personal relationship with God no matter who I am or what I have done. I may not always respond/yield to His ‘advances’, His wooing of me, but that doesn’t keep grace from trying! Why does God choose to shine His favor/grace on us? Because He loves us so! Amazing! He gives us His grace continually even though we fail to recognize it or be thankful for it. He continues to be kind to us because He wants to! It is never meted out according to our behavior, for our behavior does nothing to earn or deserve His grace.
So how much grace does God give me?
Ephesians 2:7 That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. When we get to heaven we will indeed realize fully the exceeding riches of His great grace. Oh, how I wish I could fully realize the exceeding riches of His grace to me now! I must never forget that His grace comes to me because of Jesus.
2 Corinthians 9:14 And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you. The Corinthians had given to the poor believers in Judea, prayed for them, and displayed their surrender to the gospel, thus they had been quite an example of the exceeding grace of God in themselves. Paul calls it exceeding grace!
1 Peter 4:10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. God gives to us, as we saw in the preceding verse, more than enough grace to minister to others. Here the grace is said to come in many and various ways which is what we need in order to minister. What grace will do for one situation, will not do for another situation, so God, in His great wisdom, makes His grace diverse so that it will fit every circumstance.
2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: In light of the previous verses’ comment now we can see why it is “all” grace. God’s grace covers everything we have need of. But it also ‘abounds’. It is in excess, it is in abundance, there is enough and some to spare, it is over and above. At all times, in every circumstance, we have more than enough grace!!!!!
James 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Grace is available to us when we are humble, not going our own way, not thinking we have a better idea, not doing our own thing, but looking to God for our every move.
2 Corinthians 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. God’s grace to us is sufficient, it is all that we need.
With all this grace how can we not recognize it, and accept it and use it (for often we reject it), and be exceeding thankful for it?
Paul continues in verse fourteen to state that God’s grace was abundant “with faith and love in Jesus.” That’s how grace was shown to Paul, this is the fruit of grace – it gave him faith in Jesus and by giving him that displayed the love of God. Look at who he declares he was in the previous verse – a blasphemer, persecutor, one who was injurious to Christians. But then God gave him faith in Jesus and wrapped him in His love. That’s what grace did for Paul. That is also what grace has done for us – given us faith as well as the love of God and love for God. And the faith and love for God that Paul received was indeed exceeding abundant, extraordinary, as we have seen from the life he led once he trusted in Jesus. Paul was a champion of accepting God’s grace in every area of his life. Look what he says about himself in 1Co 15:9-10 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Even in Paul’s physical trial he accepted God’s grace: 2Co 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
So, in your own life, can you see how super abundant grace has been given to you, not only in your conversion, but then in your life every day? Can you see the power grace imparts to enable you to live for God? Think about it. Pray for an awareness of this exceeding grace which God has imparted to you.
We must remember that this grace is exceeding abundant. You never leave your house without exceeding abundant grace. Never do you go to the grocery store or to work or any other place without exceeding abundant grace encompassing you. That means that you have no need to be timid or to be hesitant, or to hold back in sharing Jesus with everyone you meet. God has them cross your path for a reason. How many times do we miss these opportunities? All because we do not accept the grace that is there? What God commissions, He provides for in His great grace. Ex 18:23 If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace. In other words, “….if God command thee….thou shalt be able to…”!!!! All because of His grace! Grace permeates our daily life so that we can live with the characteristics of I Corinthians 13. It shows up wherever and whenever we need it. It is just that we so often do not realize it is there and so fail to accept it. Once again I remind you of this verse: And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: 2 Corinthians 9:8
Grace allows us the privilege of glorifying God. It is the natural outcome of appropriating God’s grace. Even in our redeemed state, we would seldom, perhaps never, glorify God if it were not for grace. Grace enables us to do the very thing we were created to do – glorify God. We do this, not just when we leave home, we do this every moment of the day, whether we are with family, or even when we are alone. Do you feel inadequate? Unworthy? Paul felt that all the more! He stated in I Cor 15:9 that he felt like he was “the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle”. Again in Eph 3:8 he said that he was, “less than the least of all saints”. Yet God’s exceeding grace made him what he was and enabled him to do what he did. He knew it was God’s grace. He never took any credit for anything he did. God’s grace can work in you the same way that it did in Paul. How are you doing with accepting this most exceeding abundant grace?
May…“the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” 1Pe 5:10