Recently I’ve been thinking about how being a disciple is living in the tension of trusting God’s grace is enough and playing our part as co-workers of Christ.
In 2 Corinthians 12 7-10, Paul tells the Church in Corinth about a thorn in the flesh which he has pleaded with God three times for it to leave him. The prayer is seemingly unanswered, but in this appealing to God, Paul hears this revelation: ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness’.
Paul’s thorn has not left him; however it is in this place of weakness where Paul is learning the truth of God’s power and the truth of how God’s grace is enough. Sometimes we ask God to open the door right in front of us because we assume that is what needs to happen next, but in fact God shows us a different door, or even a trap door we didn’t know was an option. Paul’s thorn, his weakness, has in Jesus become a means for God’s power. Like it was at the cross. The cross should have been a place of shame, a place of pain, a place of weakness, and a place of death. But through Jesus’ death and resurrection, it instead becomes a place of victory, a place of healing, a place of power, and a place of life.
Grace is a free, unconditional gift of love and salvation offered to each of us by God. It is not earned or achieved, and through grace we are forgiven and restored; we can come to Jesus and find new life in Him. All we have to do is decide whether we will accept it, and each day choose to keep on trusting His grace is enough.
But as we trust in the truth of God’s grace is enough, we also live in the tension that we are co-workers with Christ (1 Corinthians 3:9). Being a co-worker with Christ is about doing what God is asking us to do and being faithful, it is being disciples, being apprentices of Jesus. Apprentices are people who work with a master, learning from him and helping them with their work. So, as we continue to be disciples and learn to live the Jesus way, we are learning to live in the tension of God’s grace is enough and being called to be co-workers – we are both saved and appointed.
But do we really trust that God is enough? In all parts of our lives – our relationships, our finances, our families, our futures? Or have we deceived ourselves, saying we trust God is enough, but actually having a back-up plan just in case He isn’t? It’s not easy or pleasant to admit we have deceived ourselves, but in doing so have we lowered our expectations of what God can and will do?
God’s grace is constant and unchanging, and He wants us to join Him as co-workers in His kingdom work – are we living in this tension of God’s grace is enough and being called to be His co-workers?
Miriam Curate CCBN