The experience of allowing God’s grace to meet us in our need can be likened to the parent who stands back and lets a child chooswe to soar or fall. In life, we learn more from our falls than from our victories. God, the ever good parent, allows us a wide playing field to experience both.
Each of us is entrusted with certain capabilitieas and specific gifts that God means for us to develop. That usually requires discipline from us. Our development is not automatic or effortless. God’s grace entrusts to us what he could develop for us, but he instead leaves the development to us. He is not indifferent or detached, but he grants us the dignity of living up to our God-given potentialities.
God promised to be with me and that he will never leave me but I too have to put feet to my “God help me” prayers. However his promise is not that he’d do everything instead of me. God knows that to do it all for me would work against my best interest.
What is in my best interest? God seems to think the building of my character-my endurance to persevere- is in my best interest. James 1:3-4 says,” for you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”
I don’t think James had my ability to endure physics in mind when he wrote that basic spiritual promise, but I think that premise applies to everything we find humanly vcahllenging. Our challenge are opportunities for us to develop spiritual muscles as well as character muscles. In ait all is God’s grace, available to us always dispensed with God’s fatherly wisdom.
My prayer for you today………..
Heavenly Father, like a good parent, you are helping me develop my spiritual muscles and character muscles. Today, help me see any challenges I encounter as glimpses of your grace- opportunities for me to strengthen my character and to become a little more like Christ. amen
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