Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. (John 1:16, NIV)
Some expressions never change.
I did not grow up in golf thinking of the hole, or cup, as a jar. It was later—I was in my 30s and playing with a group of college competitors—when I first heard someone say of a shot holed from the fairway, “He jarred it!” Indeed he had, and I had been given a new word picture for my golfer’s vocabulary.
Like you, I’ve lived through the progression from “pin position” to “hole location.” Only the other day, I read someone begging for that latter expression to be abbreviated. Don’t we mean the same thing when we say “the hole is in the back left” as we do when we say “the hole location is in the back left”? By itself, hole should be enough. Agreed.
From him, we receive what we do not deserve and did not earn.But a golf expression that has been with us all these 40 years that I’ve been playing for real is this one: “That’ll bring you back.” We pronounce these words (or their near variants) when a playing companion hits a sweet shot or makes a birdie late in the round. Even when the rest of the day has been a stinker, we can find a reason to return for another go at this goofy game.
In the fullness of truth, though, it is not the shot we have just hit that inspires us to return. It is the hope of another one like it. I don’t come back to the game only because of the shot I hit yesterday; I’m here for what may happen today.
We might view the grace of God in the same way. Its past excellence is matched by its present possibility.
You have likely heard the acrostic definition of GRACE: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. This is the ultimate expression of God’s grace. From him, we receive what we do not deserve and did not earn. It comes at his pleasure, purchased eternally by the blood of his Son. Our gratitude for this grace can be expressed in tearful prayers and exultant singing, in humble service and in eager sharing.
And yet we woke up this morning with a day of priorities and plans before us, and if we were in our clear mind, we asked ourselves, “What does God have in store for me today?” Our heart anticipated more grace.
The wonder is that God has more. Like a broad waterfall that never runs dry, God’s grace keeps pouring out its riches on us. John Blanchard once wrote: “For daily need, there is daily grace; for sudden need, sudden grace; for overwhelming need, overwhelming grace.” I know I have needed all of these graces in my life. Surely you have, too. To presume upon the wealth of an acquaintance or friend may be only to use them for what they possess. But to presume upon the grace of God is to bathe in the fountain. Come in authenticity, come in humility, come in contrition, come in weakness, come in desperation, come as you are in every hour. God and his grace are there for you, just as they have always been.
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Jeff Hopper
May 21, 2019
Copyright 2019 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.