Grace

Grace

Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them.

Hebrews 13:9, NIV

I have read this verse many times before, but when I read it in my morning devotional time recently, three words jumped out at me—“strengthened by grace.” More often I see the words amazing, abounding, or healing tied together with grace, but strengthened was a new thought. To strengthen something is to encourage or enlarge it.

Our hearts need to be encouraged, enlarged, and strengthened because they are so often discouraged, small in faith, and weak. All the way through the Bible, we are taught to look to God for his help and strength, and nothing prompts us to do that more than our neediness. God doesn’t want us to approach him with pride—his grace goes to the humble.

My pastor, Kent Hughes, explains that in the same way the earth’s water system operates on gravity, so does grace. He calls it the spiritual “gravity of grace.” Try to picture the waters of the Niagra rolling over the falls and dropping into the river below. Then the river continues to flow down even lower to its tributaries, and lower yet to land that needs water for crops. God’s grace does the same thing. It rolls off the proud in heart but is appreciated most keenly by people who are lowly in heart. There, it brings growth and blessing. James 4:6 (NIV) reads, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Kent Hughes writes, “The unbowed soul standing proudly before God receives no benefit from God’s falling grace. It may descend upon him, but it does not penetrate, and drips away like rain from a statue. But the soul lying before God is immersed—and even swims—in a sea of grace.”^a

Strengthening grace comes to the humble—to those who admit their need.

Father,

Thanks that when we admit our neediness to you, you strengthen and enlarge our hearts with your unending grace. Amen.