Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Grace in Christ 13


From day of birth my life thou’st led; Thy faithfulness ever my guest; with loving grace Thou cov’r’st my head; Thy plan for me Thy gracious best.

Today is my birthday. (The day I write this, not the day you read it.)  It is a day to reflect on the great grace of God in Christ.  For many years my flesh, in body and mind, has been plagued by various ills from petty to profound.  For those same years my income has ranged from little to a little more than that.  But these are not the issues that life is made of or to be about.  Jesus said that our life does not consist in the abundance of things we possess.  Our wealth is His grace.  Our thorns in the flesh are the opportunities for His grace to be manifest through us.  Today I reflect on the wonderful riches of the grace of God to me.  These are riches that cannot be taken away or lost in earthly calamity. 

First there is peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  42 years ago I was at enmity with God and He with me.  I was a child of wrath in mind, body and spirit.  My destiny was sorrow in this life and greater sorrow for eternity.  Then, in a grand revelation of His grace, I was no longer an alien to the life and hope and peace of God.  He saved me and forgave my sins and made me His child.  He did this because of His grace in Christ who died for my sins and rose again for my justification.

Secondly He set me on a path of wonderful adventure with Him.  It has included taking me to four universities, colleges and seminaries to graduate with ever greater preparation for His service.  This even though I thought I would never go to college.  It brought me to meet my dear wife whose only goal in life was to serve her Savior.  What a perfect companion He gave me.  It has taken us across America to serve in pastoral ministry, music ministry, education ministry and missionary ministry.  We have learned languages we didn’t know existed and led people to the Savior from many places we had never even imagined visiting.  This path has given us six wonderful children who are all active in their own churches with two of them in full time ministry.  This path has seen our bank account never run dry even when my income was insufficient to pay just the rent and we had no other income.  God has been ever faithful.  He has been ever gracious.  He has been ever the wonderful Savior who wooed me from sin to salvation in His dear Son.  This day is really a celebration of His goodness and love. 
 
 
 
Visit my website, www.davidccraig.net, for inspiring Christian books. 
 

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