Valuable Grace

"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work." -- 2 Corinthians 9:8 [ESV]

How valuable is God's grace?  Value is normally defined in terms relative to supply vs demand.  But we're not talking about finite terms of business, we're talking about infinite measures of value.  So let me propose that we - for the purpose of this brief post - define value as the usefulness of an object and the uniqueness of it's source provider.

The Grace of God is Valuable by it's Centrality in Salvation

In Ephesians 2, Paul provides the most significant summary of the Gospel of Salvation.  That a self-seeking creature, who is dead in spirit, is made alive in Christ through a glorious exchange.  At the center of that exchange is the Grace of God.

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience... But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith." -- Ephesians 2:1-8

Paul clearly defines our condition apart from Christ when he declares we were dead and that we followed the spirit at work in the sons of disobedience.  Apart from a great exchange, there is no way to detour from a destination of separation and continued spiritual death.  Something must be done.

In verses 4 and 5, we are introduced to perhaps the most wonderful proclamation in all of history.  In this proclamation we find the conjunction "but" meaning "contrary" - in other words, regardless of the preceding statement about our condition, there has been provided an alternative condition found in God as the source provider.  Additionally, we find attributes of our source provider: mercy, love, kindness, and of course grace.  Within this statement the central element of the exchange is identified as grace - "by grace you have been saved".

Certainly it can and should be said that the usefulness of grace is immeasurable.  It is a grand understatement to define grace as useful.  The fact is that an infinite God - desiring to redeem, reclaim and restore a fallen creation - has identified His grace extended to us to be the catalyst of the most significant exchange in all of history.  An exchange so glorious and honoring, that God has elected to have it displayed continually throughout time and space within the lives of individual receiving this great exchange thus bringing eternal glory to God as the source provider.  Grace is indeed much more than useful and therefore carries immense value.

As if the exchange were not enough - and yet it is more than so - God has also chosen to utilize all of eternity forward to show "the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus".  Not only is grace the central component of the great exchange of all of history, but God says it will be the central element of God's actions toward us for all of eternity.  You see, it's immeasurably rich grace.  So valuable that God declares it to be central to His actions for and to us in infinite capacity over infinite time.

We serve a great God who has made himself known to us so as to redeem, reclaim and restore.  We are the lost coin, the lost sheep, the lost son.  We are orphans with no hope...But God.  We bring Him glory as He acts to bestow grace on us.  What a great God and how amazing is His grace. 

because of amazingly valuable grace,
jdj

--- look for the previous entries in this series :  "Purposeful Grace"  &  "Sufficient Grace" ---