Having mothered six children, been involved with our own business, and having been active in our local Church for many years, I know what it’s like to be overwhelmed with daily activities. I can relate to some of my readers who are ‘stressed out’ with modern day pressures and demands.
Over the last number of years, the revelation of Galatians 2:20 has come to me one phrase at a time:- “I am crucified with Christ. . . . .Nevertheless I live. . . . .yet not I – but Christ lives in me. . . . .” For the believer, this is a most wondrous discovery.
Standing at the kitchen sink one day, feeling frustrated because of the constantly repetitive and seemingly thankless tasks that are thrust upon us daily, I began to talk to the Lord about it:- “When there are important things that we are supposed to be doing, like praying, reading the Word, waiting on God, etc., why do we have to spend so much time washing dishes so we can dirty them again, making beds so we can mess them up again, laundering clothes to be soiled again, etc. Maybe we should just go back to mud huts and banana leaves…!? “
Then the answer came loud and clear in the next two phrases of the verse:- “and the LIFE that I NOW LIVE, I LIVE BY THE FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD!” It became so real to me that I have rested ever since, just knowing that He is living His life in me and expressing Himself through me in the every day vicissitudes of life. And I realized that it is in the daily experiences and interactions that the most valuable lessons of life are learned, and opportunities presented for overcoming. It is in these times of need that we experience the “marvelous Grace of our loving Lord” – Grace that is ‘sufficient’ for our weakest times. It is in these times that our Faith grows and our Strength increases. (2 Cor. 12:9; Isa. 40:29)
I love this verse by Annie Johnson Flint:-
His Grace is great enough to meet the great things,
The crashing waves that overwhelm the soul,
The roaring winds that leave us stunned and breathless,
The sudden storms beyond our life’s control.
His Grace is great enough to meet the small things,
The little pin-prick troubles that annoy,
The insect worries, buzzing and persistent,
The squeaking wheels that grate upon our joy.
Romans 5:1-5 ties together all the attributes of FAITH, HOPE, LOVE, GRACE and PEACE:-
“Therefore, being justified by FAITH, we have PEACE with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom also we have access by FAITH into this GRACE wherein we stand, and rejoice in HOPE of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation works patience, and patience, experience, and experience, HOPE; and HOPE makes not ashamed because the LOVE OF GOD is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.” (KJV)
Weymouth gives us this version: “Acquitted then as the result of FAITH, let us enjoy PEACE with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we have been brought by FAITH into the position of favor in which we stand, and we exult in HOPE of seeing God’s glory. And not only so; we also exult in our afflictions, knowing as we do that affliction produces endurance; endurance, ripeness of character; and ripeness of character, HOPE; and that this HOPE never disappoints, because God’s LOVE for us floods our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.”
Another expression by Phillips: “Since then it is by FAITH that we are justified, let us grasp the fact that we have PEACE with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have confidently entered into this new relationship of GRACE, and here we take our stand, in happy certainty of the glorious things He has for us in the future. This doesn’t mean, of course, that we have only a HOPE of future joys – we can be full of JOY here and now even in our trials and troubles. These very things will give us patient endurance; this in turn will develop a mature character, and a character of this sort produces a steady HOPE, an expectation that will never disappoint us. Already we have the LOVE of God flooding through our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us.”
Perhaps these three renderings will help to impress on our minds the glorious truth which they express.
Eugenia Price gives us an interesting definition of Faith: “Faith is being one with God!” The “life that I now live” I live by His faith as He lives His life in me. He is fully acquainted with our modern culture, the time in which we live, the place of our abode, the modern technology which has become so much a part of every day life: travel, communication, machinery, technology. He knows how to deal with every situation. So we can trust Him for all things.
Since Christ reconciled us to God by dying for us,
surely now we may be perfectly certain of our salvation
through His living in us.
(Rom. 5:10)
In Agape, Eulene
