Grace – A Multifunctional Tool
By: Karleigh Wood
My husband put an emergency bag in my car, in case I should ever have car trouble. There are all kinds of tools in it. I have jumper cables, flare sticks, a flashlight, a first-aid kit, a blanket, & a Leatherman tool. The Leatherman tool is many tools all contained in one, somewhat like a Swiss Army knife. It has a custom pouch with the name embossed on it so that it is easy to identify and so I don’t confuse it with anything else.
Grace is a lot like that Leatherman tool. It’s a multipurpose tool that we get to carry around with us as we “drive” through life. And over the course of life, we get to discover the many uses for this tool. Whatever the time or circumstance, we discover that we are already equipped with all we need in Christ.
If you think about it, grace was one of the things we heard in God’s Voice that wooed us to answer the invitation to salvation offered in Jesus. It is now the space we live in and that occupies us. At the beginning of our new life in Christ we didn’t know all the ways this “new multifunctional tool” worked, but we knew enough to be thankful for it!
Grace embodies God’s nature and is seen in all He does. The Word says He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. Scripture never contradicts itself, but the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament can seem like two different people without the lens of grace.
In addition to being its own “multifunction tool”, grace is also like that larger emergency bag in my car. We are thankful it is there, but we might not know how to use all our gadgets in it. We often hope that, if we ever have an emergency, someone who does know will stop by to help. But doesn’t it make you more confident when you know that you, personally, know both what each tool is for AND how/when to use it? Thankfully, the Holy Spirit is our brilliant Teacher, guiding us into all truth. Grace and truth partner beautifully in Jesus, Who is a reflection of the Father. I love how He made grace come alive in word & deed so that we could both see it and become it.
At some point in our life’s journey, we come to realize that grace is an accelerant. Graham says about grace, “It is the empowering presence of God that enables us to become the person in Christ that He sees every time He looks at us.” Every encounter accelerates us in Christ, propelling us forward in the most beautiful way. As we go from glory to glory (upgrade to upgrade), we get more opportunities to learn through new lenses and to expand our understanding.
At this stage in your development, ask yourself:
What am I learning about grace?
What does it sound like?
What does it look like?
Enjoy these days of grace!
Karleigh
