---Grace
is the extended hand of God towards man, supplying him
in his poverty and necessity. Grace is a gift from God;
unfortunately, man is not always willing to accept this
gift, because it hurts his ego. In his pride, he prefers
to buy, pay, and receive rewards for his work.
---The grace of God requires
that man not work, but wait and receive, but this "waiting"
is difficult for man. When Abraham should have waited,
instead of waiting, he worked and Ishmael was born.
He did not know, yet, the power of grace. He had been
justified by faith, but he still needed to know that
the fruit of faith would come by grace. Not only is
righteousness by faith, but the promise is obtained
by faith, with patience.
---It seems to us that
waiting on God's grace is idleness, and therefore we
reject it. We prefer to have something on hand to help
God's grace. God had to wait for Abraham to fail before
offering the fruit of grace. In this Abraham is also
our father, not only regarding faith. Impatience and
willfulness also characterize us.
---It also appears to us
that God's grace is infertile and that the objectives
will never be reached by it. But what does the scripture
tell us? "His grace toward me was not in vain;
but I labored more abundantly than they all"
(1st Cor. 15:10). "And God is able to make all
grace abound toward you, that you, always having all
sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for
every good work" (2nd Cor. 9:8). "And
it brings forth fruit, as it is also among you("the
true word of the Gospel"), since the day you heard
and knew the grace of God in truth" (Col. 1:6).
The reception of grace on behalf of the believer unleashes
the power of God to work all fruit of righteousness.
---Grace, in scripture,
appears associated with man's weakness: "And
He said to me (the Lord), "My grace is sufficient
for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness"
(2nd Cor. 12:9). And with God's power "...the
gift of grace of God given to me by the effective working
of His power" (Ef. 3:7). Grace requires humility,
so that God's power may be manifested.
---Living in weakness is
extremely uncomfortable for man, as well as to be surrounded
by "insults, necessities, persecutions and anguishes."
Yet, in this atmosphere and under these conditions,
God's power is perfected. Much of the baggage that is
within Christianity, which is used to pretend to do
God's work, is nothing more than the impossibility to
wait on the resources of grace.
---We
need to constantly decide in our service to God, if
we wait on God or if we rush to do what we can and know
how to do. The time that we wait upon God is always
too long, and the feeling of impotence is so acute that
we may even become ill. Yet, whosoever waits in God
with faith, having been strengthened in the inner man
to grow in "hope against hope" will
receive that which is believed. Abraham, "having
patiently endured, he obtained the promise"
(Heb. 6:15). It is after Ishmael that we learn to wait
with patience until reaching the promise.
(Translation:
Betsy Calvo, USA).
