We all face the same dilemma. We live in a world that does not possess the perfection with which God originally created it. It is marred by sin, and our lives are touched every day by its brokenness. This flawed condition is responsible for every hassle, hardship, and heartache that we experience. From the mundane to the tragic, its brokenness has a way of invading our lives. It brings conflict into our families. It threatens our fellowship. It can make our work seem like drudgery and our lives, at times, seem unbearable.
That’s not very encouraging, I know, but it is true. However, there is good news.
God knows the flawed nature of this world.
More to the point, He knows who you are, where you live, and what you are dealing with. He knows every detail, and He cares. No, he doesn’t shelter us from all the hassles, hurts, heartaches, and hardships that come gushing out of the cracks of a fallen creation. But He does love us, and He has a good purpose for all that He allows. [Romans 8:28]
God’s grace is available to us in abundant supply for every circumstance we face.
There is sustaining grace to get us through them. And, there is transforming grace to change us and perfect the work of Christ in our lives. In His love, God knows that we are not yet all that He created us to be. He knows where sin lurks in our hearts. He sees how it hurts us and hurts others. Out of his great love for us, God uses the very brokenness of this world to expose our neediness and then offers us the grace we need to overcome.
Left to live in this flawed world, God requires us to give to others that which we receive from Him: grace.
Forgiving grace. Patient grace. Helping grace. Enduring grace. Not because they deserve it, but because they need it. And as they see His grace shining through the cracks of our own flawed lives, we show them that life in this broken world is not about us. It’s not even about them. It’s about Him. We point them to the only One who really has that which we all need, God’s amazing grace.
And isn’t that why God leaves us here, so that we might point others to Him and His grace?
by Pastor David Zimmerman