This morning Gail and I were discussing some of God's attributes. And on a day where I'm feeling tired after a long week of work, and need a double-dose of strength to push me through the day, I love that God provides everything we need.
More than that, I love that He is "sufficient". 2 Corinthians 12 describes His grace as being enough for us. Throughout the Bible we see instances where He provides us with what we require. The thing to remember is that in most cases God gives abundantly, causing us to overflow with his gifts.
But what I love about sufficiency is that it describes a very precise thing; the exact amount required to meet a need. God could over-provide, he's able to give us far more than we need, and yet we're only promised a sufficient amount of grace.
And I love that.
Because here's the thing - overabundance tells us that we get more than we need, but Grace isn't like that. You can't have forgiveness in overabundance. Without Jesus we would receive just punishment as a consequence for our sins; but thanks to Him, we receive the exact Grace we need for forgiveness. Grace is given to us in exactly the amount we need, because he gives it to us BASED on our need. When we sin, God forgives us. We don't need more forgiveness, precisely because he's already forgiven us. He doesn't give us extra Grace so that we can just write off the next few sins, but instead calculates the cost and gives us what we need, again and again.
There's a common saying that if you teach a man to fish he can feed himself. This is better than simply giving him a fish every day. But God knows that what we need is someone to give us the food we need precisely because we CAN'T ever feed ourselves. We're to be utterly reliant upon Him, because only he can provide for us.
Sufficiency isn't a bad thing, even if we might long for independence or abundance. It's Gods way of teaching us reliance, and of reminding us that Grace is gifted.
In a world which teaches us that self-sufficiency, and earning our way, are attributes to strive for, isn't it refreshing, radical even, to know that God provides us with what we need and nothing we do can cause him to lessen his gifts, or earn us more?
Our all-powerful, abundantly benevolent God gives us Grace, sufficiently. And ultimately, that's enough.
More than that, I love that He is "sufficient". 2 Corinthians 12 describes His grace as being enough for us. Throughout the Bible we see instances where He provides us with what we require. The thing to remember is that in most cases God gives abundantly, causing us to overflow with his gifts.
But what I love about sufficiency is that it describes a very precise thing; the exact amount required to meet a need. God could over-provide, he's able to give us far more than we need, and yet we're only promised a sufficient amount of grace.
And I love that.
Because here's the thing - overabundance tells us that we get more than we need, but Grace isn't like that. You can't have forgiveness in overabundance. Without Jesus we would receive just punishment as a consequence for our sins; but thanks to Him, we receive the exact Grace we need for forgiveness. Grace is given to us in exactly the amount we need, because he gives it to us BASED on our need. When we sin, God forgives us. We don't need more forgiveness, precisely because he's already forgiven us. He doesn't give us extra Grace so that we can just write off the next few sins, but instead calculates the cost and gives us what we need, again and again.
There's a common saying that if you teach a man to fish he can feed himself. This is better than simply giving him a fish every day. But God knows that what we need is someone to give us the food we need precisely because we CAN'T ever feed ourselves. We're to be utterly reliant upon Him, because only he can provide for us.
Sufficiency isn't a bad thing, even if we might long for independence or abundance. It's Gods way of teaching us reliance, and of reminding us that Grace is gifted.
In a world which teaches us that self-sufficiency, and earning our way, are attributes to strive for, isn't it refreshing, radical even, to know that God provides us with what we need and nothing we do can cause him to lessen his gifts, or earn us more?
Our all-powerful, abundantly benevolent God gives us Grace, sufficiently. And ultimately, that's enough.
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