The Circle of Grace

2 Corinthians 4:15 declares ‘For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to about to the glory of God.’

Sometimes it is beneficial to the believer (and therefore good for everyone the believer encounters) to sit down and study a single passage from Scripture. In this verse we are being taught a method that creates a beautiful circle of grace when put into action. (But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was’ James 1:22-24.)

We need to acknowledge that everything God does (or allows to happen) in our lives is for our benefit. This is a hard thing to accept. When tragedy strikes or things just don’t go our way, we are prone to thinking that God isn’t doing His job, or that He just doesn’t care. That’s the devil at work. But when mature Christians reach the point in their spiritual journey where they can accept that God is always at work, they realize—to their delight—that everything He does is for them.

Armed with this joyous truth, this grace He has given will then spread to others, causing them to also give thanks for all things. All of this brings glory to God. Glorifying His name is, after all, the purpose of His creation.

Those who have received the joyous grace and given thanks after observing the same in us (as doers of the Word), will then share this grace with others. And there is the beautiful circle of grace.

When you accept that God is in control and that what He does and allows is righteous, you will slip into perfect peace with him. That’s the issue today; people, even believers, are at war with God. When you question Him, when you suffer from anxiety and doubts, you are rejecting His grace, thereby rejecting peace.

There is nothing so joyful as the peace of our Messiah, and no place so content as in His everlasting arms.

Throughout this 4^th chapter of 2 Corinthians, we are shown that God’s grace brings light to our lives. Though we are hard-press on every side, yet we are not crushed; though we are perplexed, we are not in despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed. Throughout it all God is our guiding light, and the power to overcome all circumstances resides in His grace. We do not have the power to save ourselves, but God does, Verse 7. So rest easy, fellow believers, knowing that all your sufferings are working in you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory—a crown in heaven (Verse 17).

Here and now, today, you are called simply to trust and obey. His grace will come and give you peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7). He has the power to save. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. It is all in His loving hands, so be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10).