Saturday, April 20, 2013

Grace and Glory, Faith and Faithfulness

UV 729/10,000 Grace and Glory, Faith and Faithfulness For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Psalm 84 v 11 On the one hand, the Lord penetrates all aspects of our lives and on the other, He makes it impenetrable for our adversaries. The Lord gives us warmth and light even as the sun provides heat and light in our lives. Unlike the sun whose light cannot penetrate beyond our skin, the light of the truth of God penetrates the darkest cavity of our hearts. Just as a ray of sunlight illuminates the dust particles in the air, the truth of God’s Word illuminates the dust and contamination that has affected our lives. Just as the sunlight strengthens our bones by stimulating the production of Vitamin D, the light of the Lord will strengthen the frame of our lives within which we live and move and act. Just as the quantum of light from the sun striking us and our surroundings, we cannot contain or limit or measure the quantum of grace and glory that He pours into our lives. Just as the sun lights up every single thing in its path with its radiance, the Lord lights us such that our character and conduct is gracious and our lives are glorious. Many people wear sunglasses that do not enable them to perceive or experience the grace and glory of God. The Lord is also our shelter, our hiding place, our refuge, our cover, our shield. He shields us from spiritual as well as physical attacks on our well being. He shields us from the assault of powerful enemies. Those who attack us in one direction will have to flee in seven. Many of the attacks on us might come from an unknown quarter like the two Chechneyan brothers who held Boston to ransom. But, the Lord will place His strong impenetrable fencing around us. He is like the center or locus of the circle of our lives. He is also the circumference. His favour encircles us. His grace enables us from within. His glory surrounds us. This uni-verse ends in a beautiful promise that the Lord will withhold no good thing that we need provided we walk uprightly. Walking uprightly implies walking in the fear of God and living according to our faith in the Word. We need not feel guilty when we enjoy a particular good thing. We should welcome it as a blessing that the Lord has bestowed on us in His grace and glory. Just as a father will give his child what is within his means, the Lord whose resources are unlimited will give us in abundance every good thing that we need. The only condition is that He should be convinced of our focus and our faith. Each promise of God is the seed of a good thing that He has reserved for us from the beginning of eternity and forever. There is no expiry date on the promises of God. Each precept of God is a guideline to live an upright life. The Lord has set up things or circumstances for our success and fulfilment but the choices we make affect the end result. He reserves for us all that we deserve on account of our faith and our faithfulness. The difference between faith and faithfulness is that faith describes our belief. Faithfulness describes whether we are living in accordance or alignment with our faith. Prateep V Philip

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