More than Enough

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
Paul, writing in, 2 Corinthians 12:9 esvbible.org

It’s always more than enough!

Paul, by his own admission, has been doing a bit of a whine to the Lord.

He has a significant problem. He calls it his “thorn in the flesh.” Despite the studied efforts of many scholars and expositors, we don’t know what his “thorn” is, although several opinions have been offered.

Most suggest that he has either problems with his eyesight, or some sort of speech impediment. He calls it a “messenger of Satan”. And he writes that the reason for the “thorn” is, “to keep me from becoming conceited” (v 7).

So. Don’t know. Can’t know.

And his “thorn” is not the focus of the text anyway.

What matters is grace, God’s grace, grace to get through.

All followers of Jesus have to deal with, contend with, and even struggle with problems we don’t want. We, like Paul, may also ask God to remove whatever we imagine our “thorn” to be, often receiving the same response as Paul.

It’s always good to review.

Justice is getting what we deserve.
Mercy is not getting what we deserve.
Grace is not getting what we do deserve.

Grace is most easily defined as God’s unmerited favor.

Grace cannot be earned, merited, stolen, found or purchased.

Grace is always getting a good thing we don’t deserve, rather than getting a bad thing that we do deserve.

Here are three blessings of grace given by God to His saints.

1. We all receive saving grace.

This is one of the happiest truths Paul writes about, frequently.

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, [5] even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — “ (Ephesians 2:4–5)

And then he follows up with this:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9] not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9)

This is God’s generous gift to every follower of Jesus, every Christian, and without this grace none of us would be saved or could be saved.

2. We all receive serving grace.

How else are we able to follow Jesus and do the good works God has prepared for us?

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)

The plain truth is that we’re to extend to others the grace we’ve received from the Lord.

Peter reminds us:

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” (1 Peter 4:10)

We’re called by God to emulate the Good Samaritan, and extend grace to the unknown, the unlovely, the unexpected, and yes, above all, to the undeserving.

We can’t do any of the things we are called to do without the surpassing grace of God in our lives, which then overflows into the lives of others.

3. We all receive sufficient grace.

Maybe we should covet grace the way Rockefeller coveted money. When asked how much money was enough, the exceeding wealthy man answered: “Just a little bit more.”

But we don’t need to do that because the Bible tells us, as Paul reports on his thrice repeated plea to the Lord, that His “grace is sufficient.”

Paul explains this earlier in this same letter.

“Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. [5] Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, [6] who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians 3:4–6)

When we rely on, when we count on, when we depend on the grace of God, we discover it is always more than enough, to receive and to give.

John reminds us of what we have received in Jesus!

“For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” (John 1:16)

More than enough!

Soli Deo gloria!